These Stones We Skip
by miraimisu
Summary: Uraraka, as a newcomer to the most powerful guild in this forsaken village, had not only one, two; but three responsibilities: grow stronger until she was able to pin the world down, untangle the mystery that her past was and survive under the eyes of a crowd that watched over her as night chased the sun, the charade going on and on until the thread... suddenly snaps. [MEDIEVAL!AU]
1. Chapter 1

**[A/N]** : HEY GUYYYYYSSS /sways by, IM HERE AGAINNNNN /dies

Ok so seriously this took far too long and I just don't know a damn about writing but MAN I LOVE PAIN. And this was supposed to be a 5-4 chapter thingy? I just hope you guys enjoy it reagrdless its length /sorries NORMAL MEDIEVAL ADVENTURE AU? HAHAHAAHAH MAN WHO'D HEARD OF THIS LIKE WHAT, NO PLOT? Thet's cute what's that is it edible ñomñom

 **EDIT** : I've done some minor editing to the chapter, but it will be reviewed regularly. I was just SO damn tired that day /flops also 4-5 chapter thingy my ass HAHA

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Sounds of steps, spattering against the puddles marring the ground. The rain howled above the little girl who had found herself in the middle of a forest and was running for her dear life, fearing what thunderbolts and trees could do to her. Fire was a nasty thing to play with, above all in the darkness of such a rowdy night. Her brown, worn cloak was doing a poor attempt at protecting her from the foul water, only hindering her escape.

She had woken in the middle of the forest, mud caking her clothes and her staff almost forgotten meters beside her. Upon hearing the roar of rolling thunder, her feet had automatically started running towards the end of the forest, the lights of a village blaring against the bleak rainy weather. Grimacing, the sorcerer was on a race for her life, a sense of dread and danger hovering above her.

Maybe it was only the darkness making it seem like a hunter was after her– but she wouldn't be the brave one to stay and check. In her state, getting away from the mouth of fog, mud and darkness was the most logical answer.

So she ran. Faint memories prior to her wake started fleeting away with the sense of urgency to reach a point she didn't really know, but her instinct was carrying her straight towards the village barriers. The clinking of potions, scrolls and little other items in her bag sounded dim against the splash of her frantic steps, finding it hard to keep her ground against the slippery surface.

She ended up falling on the exit of the forest, the embers of the covered torches making her dirty skin shine. When all she had woken up to was a starry night full of water and mud, of course a source of light would come as a pleasant glimpse. Her hands met the creamy soil and propped her up, dainty feet carrying a dirty, wet, cloaked body all the way to the barrier.

In one way or another, she would make it to the barrier! She had to!

The only guard at the barrier immediately picked up the sound of her steps nearing the barrier, and deeming her to be suspicious enough to be interrogated; she was halted just before entering the village. "Hold on, woman! Show yourself– or else!"

His shiny, silver sword was drawn at her, but no fear crossed her roundy features. Rain clattered against the shiny blade, making it all drearier for her. Her shaking hand was replete of scars and cuts, feebly rising to reveal her face. She pulled the hem of the hood back a bit, enough for the lights to illuminate her pinky cheeks and chocolate irises. Despite her childish appearance, her expression was everything but naïve. A grim hint dropped of her shadowed eyes, splattered with pain.

Her breath hitched inside her throat, feeling weighed down by the heavy downpour. "I am a sorcerer, fellow soldier. I am seeking refuge for the storm – and please do trust me, I mean no harm to this village."

Somehow, her shaky words lowered the spike aimed at her. This meant a pass for the village's refuge, but before the guard could even mention her reddening lower side, she scurried past him with hurry. The girl was in a race for a place to stay, – no meaningless chattering would hinder her intentions. This very same guard saw her hurrying away from the entrance, and wondered at the same time what had struck her to be so impatient.

The village was stark naked of any stupid inhabitant waltzing in the rain. It was a strangely good coincidence, since her beauty and grace at that very same moment was anything but presentable. Her cloak had been stained with mud and dust, hands with ugly scars and her hair was for sure greasy and full of bugs– her urgent run was interrupted by a sharp pang in her lower side, and she clutched it, fearful of digging her dark nails on a protruding injury.

Teeth gritted, she continued forward. The stone pavement felt slippery underneath her boots, and a dim fog coveted the ground in a silent warning. Despite the bleak environment, the nightfall and stars having disappeared in the midst of the storm, her heart never stopped beating towards the end of the streets. Crossed were what appeared to be the main square, a tavern street, and some kind of blacksmith department.

She was met with the ending of the street a few minutes later. She supported her weight on a nearby wall, panting. The heaviness of her staff felt a dozen times bigger than usual, her lungs were gasping for some sweet oxygen while her legs faltered. Yes, whatever thing had happened before waking up in the middle of the forest had drained all her stamina.

A big, darkened building stood in the bleak distance, thunder clapping over a clock tower and making her just rush, rush and crawl to that blessed place.

"Excuse me!" her dainty hand banged against the hard wood of the gigantic door that loomed above her. Thunder rolled too close to her, sparking all sorts of fears in her heart.

She hadn't expected anybody to come by considering the preposterously loud noise above her and the village, but she continued pounding at the entrance like a maniac, only getting wetter and weaker every moment spent in solitude.

When her pounding came a bit weaker than intended and her hand remained grasping the surface, a shadow swung the enormous door open, cloak on as well. The mysterious figure saw this: a cloaked figure, dampened by the rain, hunched by exhaustion and hoarse words coming out in mutters due to the cold.

Before he could slam the door close again, she stopped his doing and tried to show a bit of her face. It was turned into an effortful scowl of desperation and frustration at her own weakness. Her hand quivered on the hem of the door.

The boy let the hoodie fall completely back, revealing a mane of red hair. At least now he'd see her better! "My apologies mistress, but we're not buying anything—"

Hadn't she lacked breath and her ass would be on the floor, shaking with laughter. This was no time for humor though. "I am in search for refuge; I have no goods to sell whatsoever."

"Refuge?" he titled his head. As he seemed harmless and... pretty cute if you asked her, the sorcerer's scowl softened, giving away a docile spark. "Why didn't you just say so, lil' lady? Follow me!"

The redhead grabbed the hem of her hood and peeked under it, eyes softer once he found adorable cheeks and startled eyes. She hadn't noticed that his skin was undeniably tough until she saw it deflate back into regular skin. Then, he yanked at the hem and pulled it down on her. "We don't want you catching a cold, roundface!"

"Roundface?"

The door was closed now, and the storm seemed far away and distanced from the area. Rain still fell hard on them. The little sorcerer glanced at her savior with gleaming eyes, filled with hope. Before she could even present herself and thank him, he spoke. "The name's Kirishima, by the way! This is the Yuuei base of operations."

"Yuuei base?" the words came out slowly, tasting the syllables and trying to relocate them in her short-term memory. The other nodded, and she realized he had pulled on his hoodie again. "Where exactly are we?"

"Ohh, I should've noticed you were a foreigner!" exclaimed the feisty teen, marching in front of her towards the main building entrance. "You're at our guild doors."

Upon hearing such words, she visibly recoiled from the path, stopping in her tracks almost instinctively. "Hold on, a guild!?" noticing her surprise and apparent horror, his nod was curt. "I can't come intruding in such a holy place like this!"

He turned to her, hands shot up. "Holy place? There's no need to be so exaggerated about it!" her trembling died down. "Besides, what were you expecting to find in such a big place?"

Her mind went wide with the variety of outcomes and scenarios that could have played out in the end. "Well, I thought this could be a monastery of some sorts, or some kind of defensive fortress! I wasn't expecting to find such a big guild here!"

"We have pretty huge flags outside, too." Kirishima pointed at one of them, conveniently flailing in the crazy wind. "They are our pride and joy."

The sorcerer looked behind her to find that not only were most flags gone into the storm, but that the scarce remaining ones were dirty and wet. She glared at her savior. "It's not like they are completely visible in this weather–"

Well, of course not. The night was dark and the wind stumbled among known territory. It only made her wonder what was that man– Kirishima doing up outside in the middle of the storm.

Suddenly, a whip of pain shot up from her abdomen– so she bent awkwardly, making the man near her gasp and turn around. "Hey lil' lady! What's up with that ugly thing?"

She was trying to cast a healing spell on the thing, but the torn skin didn't soothe despite the sparks of green. "Healing isn't working. Whoever did this had a cursed weapon with them so I wouldn't be able to heal it."

"Cursed weapon?" Kirishima scratched his chin, leading the girl further into the base. "Our leader has one of those. He's always going on about how it disables aid and that– hey look out, miss!"

Her fall was caught by the redhead, and the sorcerer started mumbling apologies to the boy. "Terribly sorry. Cursed weapons are a hassle to work against."

"Again, where the heck did you come from?" his hand led her onwards by patting her lower back, hands getting muddy in the process. "You look a bit scruffy – did the village guard attack you? He can be a real douche sometimes."

She shook her head, fighting against exhaustion and trying to clear the way into her memories. However, it was all blurry and untidy in her head. "No... I woke up in the forest a few minutes ago and..." she supported herself on her staff for a moment. "I don't remember much before that."

"What a weird little girl we have here." one of his arms came sneaking around her back, feeling the potions clanking again – most of them unused, he assumed, because cursed wounds didn't allow healing. "Well, whatever the case, we'll take care of you inside the guild. I'll summon the guild masters and a doctor to the main room. Cursed wounds are nasty."

"I thank you deeply for your help, friend." grunted she, limping towards the building doors. "I hope I'm not a disturbance in your guild."

"It's no biggie, lil' lady! And please, drop the mannerisms, you are no trouble at all. We are always welcoming people in." then, as he touched the doorknob, the image of one of the leaders, the fearsome one, came to mind. Kirishima smiled weakly. "At least most of us are."

She peeked at him, interest evident in her fading irises. "Tell me; is everyone in here as nice as you are?"

A faint blush blossomed on his cheeks under the rain and darkness of the storm. He cleaned some of it with a sigh of exasperation towards his varied spread of guild mates that probably waited inside, and how they could scare her away with a word or wrong touch. And if this little lady had been able to walk to the guild with such wound open, she was a keeper.

His evident answer was immediate, yet tired. "...no."

The door opened in front of them, a gloomy dark hallway welcoming them. Uraraka tried to limp onward while Kirishima closed the door behind her – her vision and hearing were growing fuzzy, she noted, probably due to blood loss – and hurried over her.

"No walking for you today, miss!" and his arm was around her again. "We need to get you a doctor, pronto."

As his muscular arms tightened around her petite back, something about the warmth of his skin and the way his skin had literally tightened at the sight of a newcomer– it all struck a chord in her. The notion was so warm and friendly that she was confused for a second: why did this man feel... so close?

Ah, he must have this teddy-bear aura around him that makes people feel so safe. The thought was then pushed aside, since emotionally bonding with someone you'd never see again after a few days was useless and draining. She didn't really have an option here: all she would do was have her wound checked, then leave with no regrets.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the corridor swung open, revealing a tall man with an iron armor sprinting towards them. In this state, all the sorcerer could make out was his shining glasses and black hair.

"Kirishima! What are you doing with this scruffy wizard this late in the night?" asked the... soldier? clearly annoyed by the fact that there was an unwanted visitor. Still, he also helped her by helping her forward. "And why is she still bleeding? Isn't she a–"

"Cursed weaponry." responded Kirishima curtly. The other man nodded and murmured something about a leader and barbarians, but the sorcerer couldn't hear all of it. Droplets of red dripped on the dark red carpet of the hallway.

Her step was clumsy, but still amazingly decent. She was panting, chest heaving, wet and dirty, but still standing. Seeing her difficulties, the glasses man tried to straighten her posture and charge more of her weight.

"My name is Iida, unknown visitor! I hope you have a pleasant stay here, in our headquarters!" spoke the man passionately, as his eyes shone like this was the first opportunity he had had to help someone out like this– in retrospect, it most likely was.

The sorcerer shook her head as to clear some fog off her mind, but it was useless. The more blood that dripped down her little body, the less her train of thought would trail. Her knees were at least supporting her weight and she hadn't crashed down yet, but the feeling of exhaustion was undeniable. Suddenly, she got this urge to close her eyes and sleep in her saviors' arms.

Alarmed by her waver in the saunter, Kirishima carefully handed her to his mate. "Iida-kun, please take her to the main room. I reckon everyone should be assembled there considering how much of a wuss most are towards storms. This girl isn't gonna last long."

"Be careful with Bakugou!" warned the armored man as Kirishima ran all the way through the corridor. "He is awfully grumpy when awaken so suddenly – more than usual!"

Ah, that must be their guild mascot, or something. The sorcerer couldn't care much about that Kabugou or– whatever his name was. She didn't have the energy to think about other things that aren't her bleeding injury or the fact that this man was mumbling something about safety during rainstorms.

"There are tons of wolves in the forest!" he spoke diligently. "Did a beast tamer attack you, maybe?"

She tried to muster all her strength into her tiny vocal chords. "I'm... not sure." there were no images prior to her waking up, and somehow, the instinct of taking refuge had overpowered the will to remember who had put her in such alarming state. "I just woke up in the forest and ran for covering."

Unlike Kirishima, Iida didn't seem to brush it off. "Whoever this disgraceful enemy who has attacked you was, they knew what they were doing. That cursed weaponry may have secondary, psychological effects."

Albeit the option was possible, the sorcerer couldn't see it being much of a likely option. As far as she was concerned, weapons with such unique brainwash properties were not only extremely rare, but also forbidden among legal sorcerers. Monster timing was illegal too anyway, so both conflicts could be related.

But somehow, all these theories about brainwashing and wolves biting her ribs off sounded too dramatic and coincidental. All she had to worry about was her injuries and resting after what must have been a beating before waking up in the forest.

Iida managed to open the door to her and stepped into the room with her. The lobby was a round room with tons of torches around it, all bright and flaring, illuminating the room in a dim orange light. The sorcerer looked up from the floor to see a blonde guy blinking at her, a black haired punk–

The newcomer blinked and diverted her eyes to the black-haired girl, who just stared with a slightly worried face. Her eyes were warm, tingling, and it gave her this terribly familiar inkling that she had seen that girl before, that her seemingly porcelain skin was more than a newfound discovery– and those hands, why did they seem so clean all of a sudden?

When Jack gasped at her, the sorcerer noticed that wet, fat tears were falling down her cheeks– but somehow, she didn't feel saddened… she felt overjoyed upon seeing her. It was confusing, overwhelming, and maybe it was just the blood loss making her oversensitive and emotionally gross, but her heart was soaring upon seeing that woman who she didn't even know– and this was driving her crazy.

Not everyone saw her display excepting Jack, who hurried to her and rubbed her shoulders, thinking that it was the new girl being tired and overly stressed over the run and the wound. Irony would get her later, as it was everything but that.

In her peripheral vision she also saw bird guy leaning against the stone wall, and a cute, freckled boy running towards her, maybe having seen her wiping her tears away as secretly as possible, feigning sore eyes. Behind him, two horned thrones sat above some stairs, a red carpet trailing down the steps.

The boy had this urgent spark in his eyes that woke something in her heart, but she wasn't sure what it was. All the sorcerer could say was that he was trustworthy just by looking at him.

"Goodness, you are leaking!" she blinked and looked at where his hands were palming, searching for the wound through her cloak. "You are soaking wet too. Kaminari, bring her something else to wear, will you?"

Blonde guy sprinted away. Iida spoke up again. "Can we do something for her? Kirishima found her searching for refuge some minutes ago. He has gone to see Bakugou, too."

The green-eyed boy was startled by the news. "Are you serious!? This late in the night?" what was so wrong about waking a pet up? "You guys have screwed up very badly... Jack, please, bring Shuzenji here so she can heal her."

"No." grunted the girl, flinching as his hands found the injury. "I can't heal it myself, a cursed weapon must have caused this."

The boy shook his head in reassurance as the black haired girl left quietly. "Shuzenji has a special all-range cura. She's devoted all her life to expand her healing expertise and has worked with cursed wounds like this."

The sorcerer nodded and she suddenly felt extremely light-headed. She made a frail attempt to cure the wound again, but the effect faded away quickly and made her knees finally give in. Iida instantly knelt down by her as the other boy looked at her, expectantly. The bird boy only stared at her from far away.

"Please, hold on for a minute as my companion and Shuzenji come by." pleaded the boy as he removed the cloak from her. Her humble clothes were dirty and disarrayed, making her look poor and weak when she was none of that. "My name is Midoriya, by the way. I am one of the co-leaders of Yuuei with Bakugou, the other leader. Please, bear with his foul humor for a bit. He's easily irritable."

So, he was one of the leaders? At least her assumptions about him being a dog weren't far from reality given all descriptions given about him, but it made her feel a bit intimidated all the same. She gulped quietly, and the feeling of being no more than a intruder came crashing in tenfold.

A door swung open loudly, and a tiny old woman ran to the sorcerer's side along with... was it Kaminari? and started pouring all her healing on her. This woman wore a scrunched frown and a long, white spotless cloak. "You little lady, some of you are so reckless that you end up like this!" she sounded chiding, like a mother. "I hope a little scar makes you realize the danger of cursed weaponry wielders, they are no lousy enemy!"

In less than a minute, the light-headedness was gone and nothing hurt anymore. Her muscles felt replenished and she felt like walking again. Iida helped her up easily and the sorcerer could, indeed, stand again. She expressed her deep gratitude by vowing to the lady with a grim, ashamed expression.

Kaminari removed the brown cloak from her and wrapped her in a red, smooth cloak, head hidden again. Jack also went to her side and eased her into a blanket with a neutral face, but still slightly withdrawn due to her little fit minutes before.

"No need to thank me so hard, little girl! Don't lean in so much or your back will pay the price!" she immediately pushed herself into a normal position and touched the flesh around the scar from under the clothing, and sighed in contentment. "You sure took a little beating, teenie. You must rest for the night, I hope you don't have much business to do tonight."

The sorcerer pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling instantly heavy again. Again, no memories came to her about any further tasks to do that night. "I don't really know... it all feels a bit blurry now."

"I guess it's because of the blood loss. If you can't tell what happened before waking up, there's no way to do any further guesses." Midoriya rubbed her forearms with a gentle smile. The girl had the urge to smile back. "C'mon, we have to get you a room."

"Wait, hold on!" Kaminari approached them. Checking her face, he nodded approvingly, but he still warned them by her side. "What about–"

 **–BAM!**

"Who the fuck dares to wake me up so late in the damn night!?" came screaming a sand haired boy, a red cape extravagantly trailing behing him, fur nestled on his shoulders and bare chest heaving with anger. "I can't believe you fuckers sent me that red–"

His eyes fell on the small group of five: the punk, the lighting jackass, four-eyes, the bastard he had as a companion, and... who the fuck was that?

"And who the fuck might you be?" asked Bakugou impatiently, fingers brushing the handle of his shining sword. His boots stepped near her, and his language and glaring eyes– they were terrifyingly red, all of that was making her feel a bit smaller than usual.

His figure towered over hers; eyes squinted at the little pebble that had barged into his guild. "Answer me already, brat."

She snapped out of her trance with a visible shake, but the man paid no attention to that. "Can someone in here tell me who this girl is? Are you guys so dumb that you didn't even ask for her damn name!"

Iida was quick to answer. "We deemed her health to be more important than who she was, master!"

The girl assumed that Iida called that guy mister out of politeness, because he seemed to be around their age or even a bit younger than him.

"When is it more important to heal a probable intruder than to actually know if she is a traitor to the village, or someone suspicious?" Bakugou glared at the girl, hands in fists and shoulders shaking because he couldn't believe that his right hand, Kirishima, had actually let a complete stranger into their headquarters.

"I am, by no means, any intruder of any sorts–"

His sword was drawn in the flash of an eye, blade pointed at her neck. The tip of the steel weapon shone under the flames and brushed her chin, raising her head to meet his eyes. "Don't fucking dare to speak while I am in the middle of a damn argument."

She nodded quietly and glanced at the other leader, who apparently hadn't seen his companion so shaken up in a while. All the other guild mates were looking to another side as well, even though they heatedly disapproved of their leader's behavior. Her hands slowly rose in her defense, staff still in her hands.

Bakugou, upon seeing her weapon, gritted his teeth and looked at Kirishima. The read-head shrugged and padded to the girl, eyebrow high in surprise. "I don't know why you're being so aggressive towards this girl here. She seems harmless and... doesn't seem to bite much."

Kirishima pinched her cheek from under her hoodie and she squeaked, hands flailing in alert. "Stop playing with her zygomatic bone, Kirishima!"

He surrendered under Iida's demand only to look at Bakugou again, sword still high in a threat. "Man, just calm down a bit. She woke up in the middle of the woods and is confused. Cut her some slack."

His sword momentarily pointed to her hand with a shake only for the tip of the blade to go back to her throat. "She is a motherfucking sorcerer."

Somehow, this man made the beautiful word sound like a burning, acid insult. His brows were pulled into a frown and he seemed to be seriously debating between murdering her or just beheading her. Kirishima quickly put a hand on her shoulder, eyeing his leader warily.

Kaminari leaned to her, startling a tense sorcerer. "Don't take him so seriously, he's a big fluffy bear in the in–"

Iida royally elbowed his ribs before Bakugou had the chance to chop them with his sword. His eyes flickered to the girl in front of him, her eyes still shadowed by the cloak. He growled as his sword prickled the smooth skin.

Bakugou forgot for a second that she's a sorcerer, a wicked witch, and the blade drew higher until the sharp metal is grazing her forehead. Then, with a swift movement of his sharp sword, the hoodie was pulled up and it fell back on her shoulders, revealing wide, doe chocolate eyes– it's all he could see all of a sudden, and muddy skin.

If Bakugou was taken aback by her appearance, he didn't mention it with words– but the way his teeth clenched tighter clearly gave away that he had expected an uglier, scruffier woman underneath the cloak. Kirishima smiled knowingly.

The weapon fell back on its place as he still stood above her. He wasn't much taller than her, she knows, but his figure still loomed above her like a fortress in a desert. His eyes bored deep into hers as she took a faith leap into his bones, flesh, and bubbling anger. Somehow, his skin and vibes, the baritone of his voice, it all echoed deep into her– it made him seem less aggressive and menacing than what nature would later reveal to her, but the intimidation was still there. The echoes of his persona still coated her heart and clenched it in a deliciously poisonous grip.

She had faced worse. She could face those glaring eyes with her chin high, even if she lost her mind in the process. Bakugou turned around and went up the steps to his throne. She was 100% sure that the throne is completely unnecessary and it was just that damn bomb being an extra douche.

Because of course this had a psychological effect on her. Making an important, fierce member of a community stand above a minor one increased the chance of having cowards run away. Unfortunately for his picky ass, she was no coward, and she had some backbone despite her pinchable, nonbiting cheeks.

"Yo, angelface," there was a sharp intake of air from all the integrants of the guild present in the room. "tell me your goddamn name already."

The brunette paid no heed to the people by her side and took some strands out of the cloak and looked up to that man. His snarl was unsightly, muscles tense in anticipation and his untamed hair threw a shadow over his angular features. His elbows rested on his knees, hands laced under his nose, and eyes piercing through her– it seemed like he could see right through her despite her not being able to remember much about herself.

Now she noticed some wild necklaces on his chest, numerous tattoos and the variety of battle gear he probably used casually despite it being a bit heavy and uncomfortable– elbow defenses, knee protectors, those damn heavy boots. His boots were dirty with something she prayed to be non-human, burnt and slightly worn off.

Yes, if this man wanted to impose fear, he was sure making himself look like a king. But this roaring king wasn't going to talk her down that night.

She didn't know how much time passed until she was able to speak her name. "My name is Uraraka."

"Uraraka." he tasted her name around his tongue, and his deep voice brought various feelings to her. "Dumb name for a dumb-looking girl."

People beside her flinched at his retort, but she didn't show any visible reaction to his short temper. Her lungs did a double take before answering. "I think you should try to know the person you are talking to before trying to mess with them, mister." her staff pounded the ground. A slight hush of wind ran through the room, making her hair sway.

Midoriya was slightly fanboying over her little display. Bakugou, though, seemed unimpressed. "You are a sorcerer, huh?"

She swung her staff a bit. "Do I look like a swordsman to you?"

Kaminari and Kirishima took a step back, afraid of what was to come after such snatty retort. Midoriya made his way to Bakugou's side, who outwardly recoiled at his proximity, and Uraraka could only wonder why. The very same co-leader glanced at her in consideration, and made a shicking discovery: her hands were shaking in the slowest of paces, almost twitching–but she still faced him proud and tall.

"I wouldn't be so feisty if I were you." he sat straight again, legs crossed and hand supporting his smackable smirking face. "You are in my guild and it's not wise to mess with leaders."

Suddenly, a loud blow of wind almost knocked her off her feet if Iida hadn't been there to support her. Uraraka turned around and a big ass red dragon peacefully lay in a corner of the now enormous room. The girl's breath got stuck halfway and stepped back a bit. A beautiful red, almost rose dragon looked at her with a neutral look, and then glanced at Bakugou to only cuddle down again. It had such big claws, ferocious wings and hard scales that Uraraka felt stupid for not noticing it before. She took a tentative step forward, hand outstretched.

She heard Bakugou chuckle while Midoriya attempted to calm him down. "Let me introduce you to Amelie. She's a damn beast with newcomers. Specially sorcerers." as in cue, the dragon roared a bit. "She loves sorcerers."

However, Uraraka suddenly started moving closer to the animal, startling everyone around the room, Bakugou included. The beast didn't seem to mind the proximity. "This is a rare species. Did it take long for you to tame her?"

Bakugou abruptly got up from his seat. "Oi, stop dicking with me!"

Uraraka turned around and stepped to the center again. She mused over how soft and polished the scales had looked, so Bakugou sure was taking good care of Amelie. Bakugou was back at barking at her as soon as his eyes landed on her chocolate pools, those infuriatingly naïve eyes that could only belong to a weak, frail traitor. Midoriya regarded her with a worried look.

"You are a sorcerer. And as far as Kirishima has told me, you are a foreigner, too." Uraraka nodded, not sure if being honest was the best option. "Sorcerers are rare as fuck here– mostly because they are chased after due to their power. This makes them unique and mostly powerful, as their rarity makes them differenced– but you…" he tsked at her with a frown, disinterested. "The village is full of swordsmen, archers, maybe some illegal hunters and tamers in the woods."

"Bakugou, I already told you she isn't dang–"

"Shut your mouth, Kirishima." and he did. Bakugou only leaned forward to analyze her. "The fact that you might be a valuable asset to the village is what has healed you, but it is also what will most possibly have you meet my sword someday."

Yeah, talk about personal grudges over a profession. At least he could ignore them for a while and look after the village's wellbeing. Uraraka sighed. "And I'm thankful for your kindness."

Bakugou looked aside, feeling uneasy with the warmth of her voice despite having been told several times, subtly – or so he thought – that her presence wasn't exactly welcome. His peers didn't seem to mind her though, and it drove him insane. No way he would have another sorcerer around. No way, with the risk they meant for the village. Still, he needed to know more about her despite getting this gut feeling of having seen her before.

Judging by everyone's forwardness to help her, he was sure they got the same notion before, too. It wasn't good news.

"And what special ability do you have, angelface?" when her face showed no sign of following the conversation, he growled. "I guess you have something special only you can do, if not you're fucking useless like greenielocks here and I'm sick of people like that."

Midoriya visibly jumped from such venomous words, but before he could berate him for such hurtful demeanor, Uraraka seemed to grasp the meanings. "Sorry, I'm a bit off."

Bakugou arched an eyebrow at her and started bad mouthing people with unique grace. "Redhead there can harden like a stone, four-glasses has that weird-ass super speed thing in his legs, sparkles can use electric bolts, and Jack... do your thing, Jack." flesh cords shot out of her ears, attaching to the ground. A low rumble could be heard underneath the ground, and a little crack appeared near Uraraka. "I can create damn explosions with my hands. Midoriya is... rather tough I guess."

This time the aforementioned was quick to stand his ground. "Stop undermining my abilities, Bakugou!"

The fierce boy pushed Midoriya to his throne, eyes not leaving hers for a moment. "He can do tough punches and kicks. It's better than it sounds. You happy, bastard?" he nodded, smiling like a kid. The sorcerer was still puzzled at their weird relationship. "So, what stuff can you do?"

Uraraka jumped a bit and felt self-conscious all of a sudden. All their special traits were quirky and awesome, but hers? Hers wasn't very useful in battle excepting very unique times, and despite special abilities not being used often (she noted that there were lots of people with non magical weaponry), a good ability was always welcome. She still decided to make it shine. "I can pull objects, regardless their weight, out of gravity."

A blanket of silence fell hard on the room. Midoriya was staring at her like he had just seen a ghost, everyone had pretty much taken a step away from her and Bakugou was notably shocked. Uraraka couldn't understand what the fuss was about. "I'm not sure why you all are so surprised. It's not that much of a good ability."

Bakugou looked at her, even more startled than before. "You gotta be fucking kidding me."

She grasped her staff with a bashful expression, lip bitten. "I never found the appeal in the battlefield and–"

Kaminari went nearer and shook her like a sack of potatoes. "Are you joking? It's very powerful!"

"Well, it sounds like it is!" she crossed her arms, disbelief written all over her features. "But it's all but practical. I have no direct attack skills to aid my sorcerer skills."

Midoriya blinked at her, then looked at her in deep thought. "You can still do some good stuff if you plan it carefully though."

Then he proceeded to mumble to himself under his breath, much to Bakugou's discontentment as he started smashing his head– Midoriya's head, against the armrest of the seat. The other was unfazed and still went on planning how he'd use her in the battlefield.

Jack approached her and whispered. "Midoriya is the strategy part of the guild, and the prehistoric brute is the fighting, brute part of all battles. They're both damn good at their job. They could switch roles anytime anyway, but each has a preferred branch of battling." Uraraka followed Jack's eyes to see the pair still doing their thing.

The brunette nodded and looked up to see the boys finally finishing their row and looking at her, expectantly. Her spark of emotion dimmed greatly as Bakugou leaned back on his seat and grunted. "If you can't see your potential, you sure aren't worth the investment. I don't even know why we made such a fuss outta' this when you're not more than a weak good for nothing fucking sorcerer."

Uraraka's jaw clenched, and Jack tried to soothe her with a back pat. "I don't know what's so wrong about being a sorcerer, but I bet I could give you a good fight anytime!"

Everyone's spines tensed up as tension spiked into the room. Bakugou's eyes, though– oh, a fuse was lit the moment she made the bluff; accidentally of course, but... His back perched and he showed her a first, sadistic, toothy grin. Bakugou snap stood up and jumped down to her, cape waving as soon as he landed before her.

Again, his form towered over hers with a confident smile, hand resting easily on his sword again. He never, ever, left a challenge undone. "I can show you what a hunter like me is made of, angelface."

She could see it in his eyes as if she was seeing rain fall: he was plotting a thousand ways to kill her: skinning, beheading, arson, tearing her limbs off... all ways to make that angelical blushing face of hers contort into unkind pain. He frowned at her, and she reflexively frowned back in twice the intensity.

"How surprising of you to be after unholy monsters when you could be considered as one."

Bakugou straight started loudly growling at her, trying to keep his cool and also wondering why he was not destroying her like he well knew how. His teeth ground and his hands dug in his deep pockets. His frown was still evident. "Not making wise choices today, angelface."

She only took a step further, staff grinding against the ground. "I don't know what's your deal with sorcerers, but I swear–"

Kirishima was quick to pull her away from the menacing leader, who had crossed his arms in disdain at her. "It's no use, lil' lady. He's as grumpy as a dog and he actually bites as one."

Surprisingly, Bakugou only smirked at the insulting statement and apparently took it as a praise. "Leaders need to be fierce and scary to make a name of themselves."

Kaminari stumbled over to Uraraka, soft scowl in his worried face while Bakugou rambled on and on. "He is more like a beast barbarian and not a real lea–"

The sandy blonde didn't finish drawing his blade, as Midoriya stopped it by stepping in between the leader and the poor unsuspecting – yet very suspecting – crowd. "We are not here to pick up fights."

And the sword was right in again, neatly tucked in his belt. "Fucking right." and then he glared at the sorcerer. "Now listen up, angelface. As soon as you are completely finished with your business here, I wanna see you walking the hell out of here. Sorcerers like you aren't needed here."

Kirishima approached the boy and he almost got blown up in the process. The redhead halted a few steps away from him while the rippling fires died down. Uraraka watched the display in pure wonder while holding her big staff close to her chest. "Dude, but Uraraka seems like–"

"Don't dude me, Kirishima." his burning red glare burnt deep into the other. Again, Uraraka only watched his embers flicker around his eyes in pure fascination. "You know my rules against witches in this guild. If you don't get her out, I'll do it myself."

"Bro, what..."

"And you," he drew his sword again, and moved it dangerously close to her face. He chuckled and smirked, advancing towards her. His breath fanned against her forehead, and she could only wonder what his face would look like when not constricted into violence. Was it pretty, was it tough, maybe softer? She blinked up at him, and his hard-hitting lashes blew tornadoes at her– his biting fangs came to shine at her, dread settling in. "I'm not letting this slip. We're having that fight sooner or later."

Guild mates stared among each other, mouths agape, aware of the fact that Bakugou was basically sending the little girl into a tombstone. Amelie snored behind them, and made these guys remember that their leader truly was fearful material. Yet, seeing how Uraraka stared at him, unwavering determination– all a little faked, as her heart was beating out of control in nagging fear, and those eyes, those irises Bakugou was starting to swim into to search for a little crack in her little armor– the sorcerer wasn't catching all the hints.

His eyes flew away from hers in a snap moment and he grasped his cape to take his leave. "Take that bitch to fucking sleep so I can pound her hard tomorrow. You are all dismissed."

Bakugou's red cape flew behind him as his boots crunched against the carpet and wooden floor, the door closing with a bam as his guild mates sighed and their shoulders relaxed– it seems like they had been saved from a pretty bad beating. Uraraka sighed and hunched over a bit.

"Am I in trouble?"

The crew nodded with a grim, tight smile, as if to reassure her that she was just fine, but clearly she was going to fall to the ground like a brick shatters after the fall, but she clearly wasn't a brick and Uraraka would show him what good material she was. And his nitpicking weird passion against sorcerers would be over!

"Let's take you to bed, Uraraka." Jack took her arm with a smile, tired as well from Bakugou's shenanigans. It was now when Uraraka realized that the girl... she looked familiar, somehow. The softness of her skin and– a smile, that smile. It was so warm and familiar... "Bakugou can be so loud sometimes, it's draining."

The sorcerer nodded absent-mindedly, and got Midoriya and Kaminari to tag along, somehow. "I hope he didn't scare you away. It's been so long since."

Why did that sentence sound so... double-edged? Why was this bunch of people so warm and familiar to someone who could clearly be a spy from another guild, or even be an enemy? There was no way to get an answer for that question.

And even when she curled underneath the fluffy blankets of the comforter, that question rattled in her head.

* * *

"Sir, but I can't understand what's this enthusiasm about." rain fell hard around the two cloaked men, standing near a house. The gray of their clothes only made the scene bleaker, darker, as they spoke in hushed whispers. "I mean, he's no more than a kid. I don't see the point on having faith on him."

The short haired kid played inside the house, his parents watching as he made wooden figures crash and stones crack. The family laughed heartedly and the man outside frowned deeper. The child had pink cheeks and brown, short hair. There was no way to tell his gender– not like it mattered, anyway.

"That kid is a threat to us." spat he, eyes lingering on the child's hands, too young to see his true power. One day, he would know. "The day he realizes the power he holds, he will, without a doubt, come to destroy us."

"He's 8 years old." spat the other, rolling his eyes at the preposterous idea of killing a child so young, so naïve. "Saying he's a threat is a bit of a stretch, isn't it?"

"Potential threat." corrected the man, shuffling deeper into his cloak. The kid looked out the window once, but the rain and nightfall hid the strangers in the downpour. "This kid has been predicted to be a great powerhouse. Our blood can't be overpowered by a wobbling flesh."

One of the men made his way out of the window. "Then what are you suggesting, sir?"

"We don't need to kill the threat." condemned the figure, striding away. "We just have to destroy what is dearest to him– what else to destroy humankind, my friend?"

* * *

After that, her eyes snapped open, her hands tightly grasping the sheets as the grim notion of being observed still throbbed inside of her. Her skin felt undeniably tight, as if someone had been grasping it tightly in a deathlock hold, then let it go and let her wither. She sat up on the comfy mattress, palming the soft sheets and bringing them close to her heart. What a weird dream – though she, frowning and bringing a hand to her forehead – when such bleak scenario was completely foreign to her.

Still, he woke up nice and able, her magic expertise completely replenished. She still felt a bit odd after waking up in a room that not only was completely unknown to her, but also very warm, cozy, and unsettlingly comfortable and familiar. Again, that place had a ting of familiarity that permeated even its members and it was driving her a bit off the edge. The fact that she had a pretty off-throwing dream was also making her feel a bit uneasy.

She was in a constant state of looking way ahead from a cliff, left dangling from its edge. She could even feel the waves of danger from a far-off memory, a far-away shore that prevented her from grasping the whole truth, something just in reach that didn't allow her to fall into the hole that was the truth.

Uraraka was definitely thrown off the damn cliff when a pink girl came barging in her door.

"Is this the room?" asked that woman to someone behind her, and Uraraka had this urge to dig herself a hole and never come back seeing how badly her hair looked, and the wrinkles on her clothes. Hiding herself behind the blankets would do. "Oh my gosh, there you are!"

The pinkish girl, a black-haired woman, Midoriya and Kirishima came swarming to the sides of her king-sized bed. Sunlight was washing over the bedroom as birds happily chirped outside. The weather was sunlit clean, no clouds rolling in the sky– and it only brought back the notion of rain falling somewhere, ashes from the rain was a reminiscent of such weird images. It was raining– or had rained somewhere else.

Her hands rested on her lap, still rolling the thread in a gloomy mixture of consideration and concentration, to only shot up in alarm when one of the girls almost headbutted her in excitement.

"You must be the little girl Kirishima was all crazy about, a sorcerer!" exclaimed the pink haired, pink tanned, but black dressed girl. Her hair was disheveled– or maybe this was her actual hairdo? and her eyes were pitch black, but still as warm as everyone else's. Excepting Bakugou, of course… "I'm so glad to see you! I get real sister vibes from you!"

Somehow, that sentence sounded more ominous than necessary, resonating deep within her, but she didn't pay attention to that. Instead, she meekly waved at her and nodded to Kirishima and Midoriya, who were fully equipped to battle– actually, everyone in there was fully dressed. They sported battle gear, such as gloves and shoulder defenses. The black haired, tall lady wore her sword on her waist, while Midoriya and Kirishima had it on their back and… wow, they were quite big swords. Kirishima had tons of knives with him, too. The over-excited pink girl had a bow on her back, wiggling with every little jump of hers.

Kirishima sighed contently and smiled at the little sorcerer."We came here to see how you were doing, lil' lady!" he ruffled her hair affectionally, making her wonder if that man was her lost brother, because she was already rooting for him with such shining smile. His hands were soft despite his tough body, and he had fangs as fierce as Bakugou's– yet his were equally as red, but gentler. "We are off to an expedition to Magma Volcano! It's gonna be a blast!"

The black haired girl looked at him pointedly. Her voice was severe and deep, authoritary already in Uraraka's head. "I don't think it's meant to be a walk down a forest, you know." spoke she diligently before looking at their poor newcomer. "My name is Yaoyorozu. She is Mina."

Mina grinned toothily at Uraraka, and the notion somehow made her stomach do strange summersaults. That grin of hers was warm, welcoming, and it brought Uraraka a sense of familiarity that the whole guild carried with them– well, excepting Bakugou who was a royal douche to her, but he had also awakened weird troubling feelings in her, none of them seemingly good. Mina though… she felt so close to her, similar to Jack, but in a new, weirder way. Uraraka responded with another true grin, the feeling settling right in her chest.

"Please bear with Mina, she's easily excited with new comers." spoke Yaoyorozu, her hands messing with Mina's bowl of messy pink locks to appease her. "She's one of our best archers. I myself am in charge of the guild library up the main tower–"

Kirishima leant close to Uraraka. "She's a real bookworm! And the brains of our guild… well, Todoroki is a real smart guy too."

"Please, don't use terminology when referring to us." Yaoyorozu sighed, and Uraraka felt like this issue had its long story. Not like it seemed like a big deal though. The black haired girl smiled kindly at her. "I will be partaking on an expedition to the volcano that Kirishima mentioned, but I will be around the library tonight if there's anything you need."

"You shouldn't spend so much time up there, Yaoyorozu." retorted Midoriya with a lazy smile. They then embarked on a mindless ramble about guild traditions– Uraraka heard noise to her right, and she turned to look at the window once again.

Her face shone in various degrees of glee, and the blanket was out of her body in a second, feet scrambling to the window. Mina ended up being covered by the piece of fabric, and it made everyone look at the little girl. Uraraka opened the window wide.

"Edgar!" a medium-sized, brown and frowning eagle made its way to Uraraka's shoulder like it used to, and she nuzzled his neck. He had always done it no matter how much time passed. "I completely forgot about you!"

The guild members backed away from the girl, who had been a little lady until now– she had a freaking eagle with her, for fuck's sake, and now seen as an eagle tamer which was nothing easy to accomplish. Eagles were not docile creatures, nor kind hearted or easy to even spot. If anything, this was an animal version of Bakugou and it was kind of scary to see such a sweet girl like her wooing the little beast.

Kirishima was the first one to talk. "Christ, you have an eagle!?"

She titled her head to the redhead, who was shielding Mina from the little animal. The sorcerer's chocolate eyes shifted from her guardian to the guild members who crowded in amazement and fear. Still, as she had never seen true value in her feats, confusion broke free in her words. "What is so wrong with Edgar?"

Yaoyorozu wasn't backing away from the animal, only observing it with curiosity. She was by far the most collected individual among the people in the room. "It's an eagle." she tempted her luck by caressing the eagle's back, and it didn't show signs of anger towards the gesture. If anything, it actually leaned into her touch. "They are rare species. But I guess that rare people like you should go with rare pets."

The brunette continued petting the animal under Midoriya's unbelieving glance. He had spent all night thinking that he should have told all guild mates to stay near her in case any illegal hunter came searching for her– after all, Uraraka was a sorcerer and they were exceptional professions to pick, so her position was both powerful, useful and undeniably risky. What he hadn't expected was the girl to have an eagle as a pet, which indicated her hidden strength and made him wonder how much power that little woman had in her.

"Where did you tame it?" asked the boy while mumbling, eyeing Edgar with newborn passion. "After all, it's a rare species as Yaoyorozu mentioned, and they are not easy to get to your side, I can remember clearly how Bakugou struggled with Amelie, he had had such a tough fight to tame her, and those ropes he had to use, and they ended up making nice by roaring to each other and…"

Kirishima shook his leader's shoulders. "Man, snap out of it already!"

Uraraka blinked at the pair– the leader still hadn't woken from the haze, and looked at the other girls. "Is this normal?"

"He does this too often, if you ask me." Mina giggled, and it sounded awfully beautiful in Uraraka's ears. She was already used to the sound, somehow, as if it hit close home– maybe not hers, but somewhere far away from now. "But he's right, where did you get this lil' buddy?"

Mina also reached out to touch the little animal, and the eagle responded even quicker to her touch. He must like this guild too – Uraraka thought, a gentle smile taking over her tired features – but she didn't really know why. She had at least interacted with some integrants of the guild, but Edgar knew shit about them. "I guess it was in my hometown."

Even if the answer was sharp and sure, something struck wrong in her. She didn't have any memory of having even caught Edgar in the first place, but he was still a part of her life somehow, and a part of her thought that this answer was an actual truth. Now that she thought about it… where exactly was her hometown?

"Hometown?" asked Yaoyorozu and Uraraka nodded, still deep in thought. She had no remembrance of such place, but the thought still bode well with her. "And where exactly is your hometown?"

Yeah, that was a good question. Uraraka racked her head for answers, but again came again empty handed. "I don't really remember." her voice was lost in an empty sea of blankness, devoid of memories that shaped her as a person. In fact, I don't remember much before I woke up in the forest yesterday."

Uraraka kept petting the eagle as if doing so would make answers suddenly pop up in her head– all to no avail. Out of nowhere, she saw that her previously empty counter had now a glass of water. After a hum of approval, her hand reached out for it, not even thinking about why it had spawned out of nowhere in her midst. Her throat was plenty thankful for the liquid's soothing effect on her strained chords. After all, a nap in the rain couldn't be healthy for one's body.

Midoriya eyed her with care, trying to pry answers out of her with a sole, intense glare. "How weird, a sorcerer with amnesia?"

True, how weird could she get? Not only was she an out of normal sorcerer with an eagle and a rare ability as gravity, but she also had amnesia. The word echoed inside of her and fell like a ton of bricks on her shoulders, aware of the fact that everyone would be extra careful with her now when she wanted just the opposite. Uraraka had no desire to be a hassle to this lovely guild, and if anything wanted to help them as a payback for their protection.

Kirishima frowned at her, a gesture that looked out of nature for him. "You may still be a bit dizzy from the blood loss or… something. Or you may have hit your head and lost consciousness in your run through the forest. Anything?"

Uraraka started to mess with her hair. Mina wanted to yell at her to stop ruining the little decency that her hair had that day. The sorcerer ended up giving up with a sigh. "I'm afraid not– and I'm so sorry to be such a hassle to you. As soon as I am fully healthy I will leave and–"

"Nonsense!" broke in Mina and Midoriya. They looked at each other and laughed– and they didn't say, but it was painfully coincidental–, then eyeing the overwhelmed little magician. Mina spoke up, her black eyes blinking at her. "You can stay as much as you want. In fact, Bakugou may even deem you suitable to join the guild!"

Everyone tensed up at this. Uraraka looked at them in wonder, and remembered a bit later that riff-off she had had with him the day before– oh, and he had also promised her a fight to prove herself. Her head hit the pillows again, suddenly sinking with many heavy thoughts and dread wrenching her heart. She was in for a good beating, seeing how fierce and merciless he was. The fire color of her eyes had burnt a deep impression on her, and it was cracking her bones with anxiety upon the upcoming fight.

Kirishima snapped out of his grimace and smiled at her. "Well, you can stay around as much as you wish! Yaoyorozu can help you with anything you need, and we have Hatsume as a blacksmith in the basement! She's always complaining about work overload, but trust me– she loves it!"

"Yeah!" responded Midoriya, grinning at her. "You can still be with us for a while, and come back whenever you need!" he courageously took her hand in his, and Uraraka blushed madly. "We are always welcoming people here."

Realizing how wrong it was for him to start PDA with somebody he had met just a night ago, he let go of her hands with a shaky grin. Kirishima patted him on the shoulders. "C'mon, master. We better get going. I think we have done enough here."

There was a mysterious glint in the redhead's eyes– oh, Uraraka saw it as clear as day that something else rather than simply leaving was crossing his mind. Midoriya stared for a bit, then nodded with decision. It seems like the girls were also in the business, because they got up at the same time once Kirishima touched his shoulders. Uraraka frowned softly at them.

The door swung open, revealing Jack in her commoner clothes. "Is she awake? Oh, she is."

"Good morning, Jack!" greeted Mina with glee, waving at her as they made their way to the door. "We'll get going, we'll be back late in the afternoon. Take care of her for me, please?"

They looked at Uraraka for one exact second before Jack smiled kindly. "Sure thing, Mina."

The other clapped excitedly and went first out the room. "Great! Take care of my little sister for me!"

The sorcerer had the urge to retort back that she was by no means her sister, but her heart had warmed so much by the notion that she remained silent, watching them all leave as they waved at her. Her head was telling her to check herself, because they could have easily put a spell on her that attached her so much to them. However, there was no way that existed and they didn't seem threatening to her– well, Kirishima could look tough under the wrong light, but he was a real softie.

Jack neared her bed with plans to tell Uraraka. Meanwhile, Kirishima closed the door behind him and looked at Midoriya, then started marching down the corridor.

"Should we tell Bakugou about this?"

Now dead serious, no longer the meek blushing boy from before, Midoriya held his gaze. "Bakugou told us to feed him as much information as possible. And I'm afraid that bit about her amnesia is awfully interesting."

* * *

"Uaah! It feels like it's been forever since I last went to a market plaza!"

Jack grimaced a bit and looked sideways to see Uraraka stuffing her face with all kinds of breads she had been able to find around. It was such a wonder how a small girl like her could swallow such quantity of food at once. She could give Kaminari and Kirishima a run for their money, seriously.

The black haired girl sighed, shifting the weight of the groceries from an arm to another. "You know, you should tone it down a little bit, or you won't have enough stomach for lunch later."

Uraraka giggled and tugged on her hat. Hatsume had given her a proper commoner set of clothing while they had her battle gear done, along with a new better staff. Her weapon had been discarded for the day as to not draw ill-intended eyes to her, since she was in no state to fight. Her clothes were now pink with tones of brown, and her face shone brighter than it had hours before.

She looked at Jack and up from her mountain of bread. "I have a bit of a sweet tooth with bread, I'm so sorry."

While they were advancing through the crowds with Jack mumbling something about a shrine and too many tasks to do, Uraraka let her eyes travel around the plaza. Many blankets were displayed on various windows, leaping with the subtle morning breeze. Sun leaked through the stone barrier and splashed shadow on many little stands, where some people rested lest they had a severe heat stroke. Uraraka saw a little group of kids dancing around in glee, and she giggled at the joyful picture.

As her eyes wandered around the place, they landed on a paper sheet hanging from a stand's support pole. She stopped her stride behind Jack to read the flyer, roaming eyes scanning the picture in it. When Jack sensed that Uraraka wasn't behind her anymore, her walk halted and she made her way to her. "What are you looking at– huh?"

It seems like the guards had their eyes set on an illegal hunter called Midnight. The painting of her had the tamer sitting on top of a dark lion, her smile dark, evil, naughty, as if daring the reader to come and catch her. She wore this black coat– or at least the ink of the flyer made it appear like that, with a pointy hoodie and sharp boots. The brunette had the idea to look at Jack, who was gulping at the picture. She may be scared – thought Uraraka, then proceeded to read the words on the paper out loud.

Before words could actually get out of her, Jack spoke first. "The Jirou family." the words dangled in the air for a second, as if Jack was gauging the range of danger of that family to then explain it to her. However, her words came across as stale and somewhat… sad. "They aren't good news."

And the black haired girl continued onward, and as Uraraka looked at her moving back, she could only wonder why her eyes had looked so shrunk back there, and why her arms were slightly shaking in agitation, and frown. When her friend stopped to talk with someone, Uraraka faced her front to see an elderly woman offering her some edible goodies– and oh, Uraraka would always die for traditional cookies.

"Free for a little girl like you, hon!" cooed the lady, pinching Uraraka's cheeks with affection– goddammit why did everyone have this fixation with her cheeks? "Such rosy healthy skin! You need something good to eat in days like these."

Uraraka scratched her reddish cheek and took a bite of the biscuit. "Thank you so much!" with a bow, as she always did. "I am deeply thankful for this freebie!"

The lady waved her off with a gentle smile, touched by the girl's politeness. "It's no big deal. I still remember that time my son had…"

The brunette had all intentions to listen to the story, but in a spare moment, her eyes drifted to look over the woman's shoulder, back to the shade of a tree where kids were playing. They were having these silly dances and laughter rung in the air, reaching her sensitive ears and making her inside twinkle in delight–

A cloaked figure stepped out of the tree shade, only part of her face visible– but the sight gave Uraraka the worst of chills, as if someone had slapped her with a damp cloth and left her there to rot, frozen in place as all blood drained from her skin. Her breath was stuck in the weirdest of places within her body, suddenly disappeared, and she was left in the middle of a crowded street with the worst of feelings, her being no more than a broken, empty carcass of dread. Was that…

An illegal tamer, maybe? Her head shook in pure sudden dread, her mind blown away by the sight and struggling to breathe, as if all organs had been ripped out of her.

Her irises trembling and hands shaking in agitation, she only snapped out of it when she realized that not only the cloaked figure had flickered out of existence, but that the old woman was calling her. "Hey! Are you feeling alright? All your stuff has fallen down and your face is–"

And the woman was right: all bread she was holding had fallen to the ground and probably gotten infected with ants and the like– yet a pitched noise of alert escaped her mouth, and she got on her knees to gather the food. "I deeply apologize, I think– I think I should be leaving!"

And no further questions asked, Uraraka made a run for it, looking back for a second at the shadowed spot– just to afterwards crash with something hard but also soft, and warm. Her mouth was ready to shot out an apology to whoever she had crashed with, but it all went dry when her eyes met a pair of deadly ones, looking at her as if he had just stepped on a slug and he had no regrets.

The man let out a hum of annoyance and continued his way– however, his eyes lingered on her a little bit–, and Jack was quick to offer her some explanations. "That's Shinsou."

Uraraka blinked again at the head of purple curls fading into the crowd, the dead end that were his unbreakable eyes craved into her soul like fire. "Shinsou? Anybody I should know of?"

"He is the leader of out rival guild, Grinning Blade." spoke Jack with her usual deep voice, but it held more respect than usual. "Tough guys. And that guy… he's mysterious, and Bakugou hates his guts– with a burning passion. He just came to me for something about our next guild battle."

Uraraka stared at her in silence, taking in her words, then looked back to see that Shinsou's purple locks were still visible, and they reflected the sunlight like tiny mirrors as the sun stared down on him.

"Shinsou, huh."

"He's a pretty powerful guy. I have never seen someone take out as many people from our battlefield as he has." she beckoned Uraraka to come with her, and they started making their way through the crowds in a tranquil pace. "We still have the upper hand on them by far. Bakugou is a beast when it comes to taking people out of our path, and a damn well strategist. Midoriya is just as good as he is in strategy, but he's just in for politics and stuff. He's a real fluffy ball."

The brunette nodded, her eyes swinging in between amusement and concern. That part had been explained to her the previous day, but while she wasn't a part of their guild, she needed to ask. "They still seem to be in pretty bad terms."

Jack took a loaf of bread from Uraraka's hands, not aware of the fact that they had been lying on the ground for a few minutes after her little haze. Her mind straight jumped back to the occurrences minutes prior to this and she couldn't help but wonder what part of it all was real and if that girl… why did she look so much like herself? Her hands trembled by just remembering how dark those eyes had looked, yet so similar to hers, and the bandages covering most of her visible skin. Another face, another time, another mirror– another possibility.

Jack didn't notice her turmoil though, and was content by eating her bread. "Well, Bakugou and Midoriya founded the guild together," Uraraka snapped out of it. "since they lacked gold to build its installations. Bakugou was completely against the idea of teaming up with him, but it turns out that nobody was willing to cooperate with such a foul-mouthed guy like him." both imagined how Bakugou would have had behaved back then, screaming at Midoriya non-stop and just being even worse than he was now. A chill fell down their spines. "We are at the top now, all thanks to them."

"Bakugou sure looks strong. I never got that powerful vibe from Midoriya, though." and this was sadly true, because both had shown extremes that she had never expected to find: a barbarian hunter and a guy that looked like he would be hugging you all day no matter how much of a dick you were to him. She wasn't completely sure of what side she liked best. "You all gave me a kind vibe, but I'm sure I haven't met all of you and I bet you're all deadly as hell."

Just upon realizing where they were, Uraraka stumbled for a few steps, remembering that these were the streets she had had to cross the day before, wounded and seeking refuge while bleeding and soaking the stones in unholy red. Somehow, the notion seemed strangely far from her despite it having taken place just hours ago, during night.

"We are a bunch of crazy people, that's for sure– a big one. Most of us are kind, and some of us are bloodthirsty during battles, too." the fact that she added that last word so meticulously made Uraraka gulp and think that Jack must be a corpse eater in the battlefield. "Some of us are pretty powerful. Our hunters are the best there are in the village, and Mina is a badass archer. We have lots of people in support for strategy, and knights that can royally kick some ass."

"Hunters and… knights? I never really saw the difference."

Jack chuckled with good heart. It was common for a newcomer like Uraraka to feel so overwhelmed with information, and even basic stuff could easily escape her bland mind. However, she would never dismiss her as weak or stupid– Jack got a weird powerful vibe that she was the total opposite of that. "Hunters carry their weapon on their back, whereas knights have it on their waist."

That explained a lot of things. Being a hunter sounded way more brutal than being a knight, which looked like a more delicate profession. Yet, remembering last day's events as she was doing while they crossed those streets, something came to her mind. "Bakugou mentioned that he was a hunter, right?" Jack nodded. "But his sword was on his waist."

"Ah, that wasn't his battle weapon." this prompted a disgruntled noise from the sorcerer, as that non-battle sword had looked very harming to her and its tip was sure still glaring at her from somewhere. "He does use it in battle sometimes, but he has tons of heavy weaponry back in his room. I've seen him swing around with axes as if he was handling sticks."

What the– an axe!?

"An axe!?"

Jack nodded as if this was nothing, when it was probably the most alarming piece of information she had received until now. The image of Bakugou chopping heads off was bearable, but giving him an axe was an atrocity– she didn't want to imagine Bakugou venting his frustrations on a rotting body. Gross.

"He is even more powerful than what you saw last night. In fact, he might be the most powerful guy among all guilds. Dedicated to power much, I tell you."

And then the fateful promise of a fight echoed inside her again, making Uraraka internally scream at the incoming disaster and the cacking sound of bones breaking to the rhythm of his axe tearing her apart. He was going to make her choke on her angelical halo really good– remember the lust for pain she saw in him, the desire to make all kinds of atrocities to her petite body, and the image of dirt and blood flaring in front of her as he looked at her, emotionless–

The image was too vivid to be real. Something had to be wrong with her that day.

"Uraraka, are you ill or something?" Jack's hand had come to touch her forehead with knit eyebrows, and the sorcerer could only look into her deep dark eyes. "You are a bit pale all of a sudden– actually, you were a bit white back there. Are you feeling bad or something?"

She then jumped out of her caress and blushed over being treated like a child. She may look frail, weak and tiny, but she sure wasn't none of that! And she'd sure be showing Bakugou later. "All's fine, Jack. Just a bit shaken up."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I may have scared you a little bit by talking about Bakugou so much. I'm not a fan of his, trust me. Midoriya may be a bit weaker, but he sure is kind and lovable. I bet you'll get along with him nicely."

Jack gave all purchases to Uraraka and started to push the door, making it creak with effort. Now, looking at the gigantic rampart that surrounded the guild buildings, they were incredibly big and thick, it was no wonder the sorcerer thought this could be a monastery or some kind of defensive fortress. Bakugou and Midoriya had sure invested in security, and the idea of her trying to forcefully open the gigantic doors sounded stupid. She recalled the events of the prior night and, again, felt weak.

"These doors are tough to open." grunted Jack, finally making it halfway inside. The gate was opened just a creak, enough for somebody to slide in. "Come in before this fat dude gives up."

Uraraka nodded hastily and ran her way in, pushing the gate close afterwards. The black headed girl was already making her way to the center of the guild plaza– but Uraraka could only stare at her surroundings. The rain from yesterday had hindered the views around her, and it all suddenly felt so much bigger with clear sunlight beaming on each stone.

There were several buildings around her, some bigger than others, but one stood out clearly, with a big tower on top and what seemed to be like a pretty balcony grazing the clouds– she couldn't really tell, as the sun made it difficult to see and it was just too high, she had to squint to make out the railing at the top. She also guessed that Yaoyorozu must have been referring to that tower when she mentioned the library, and Uraraka would sure be going there later.

Jack was way ahead of her now, in a spot to the right of the main entrance to the guild building, kneeling in front of an oak tree with all the products aside. Uraraka stopped sightseeing to rush to her companion, who was strangely still. The sorcerer realized that buried between the roots of the gigantic oak, there was a little makeshift shrine, with a white crystal she knew very well.

"An ice crystal?" Jack nodded, hands still intertwined in what seemed to be like a small prayer. Of course Uraraka knew about power crystals, her staff had tons of them incrusted and she always had spare ones in her bag. No sorcerer could go along in life without some basic knowledge on magic science. "Wouldn't they be more useful incrusted in your weapons? It looks like a defense gem."

"But we all have one." Jack rummaged under her gray jacket for her weapon– ah, there it was. She showed her whip to Uraraka, and the sorcerer could make out a white shine on its handle. "It's a guild blessing against ice magic. That's why this one is on this shrine, and underneath the oak's shade."

"So it's a defensive crystal indeed, but you are using it to protect the whole guild facilities." and it was a smart move, since ice magic was tricky and having everyone build up defense against it was a smart move. "But only the scarce sorcerers living here know ice magic, why bother?"

Jack chuckled and stopped the prayer, looking at her curious friend. She has squatted down next to her, and stared at the crystal with burning interest. The girl's voice came out as stale and raspy, asif touching a sensitive matter. "Ice magic is considered as an accursed magic, Uraraka."

"Cursed magic?"

Again, Jack nodded, her mouth drawn into a thin line. "It has the power to shatter human bodies, freeze countries– it represents coldness. But most importantly," this time, her voice was even lower, in a terrified whisper. "it represents time stopping, freezing, disappearing. It means zero progression, things stilling in place."

"…Time." condoned Uraraka, a shadow passing over her face. "I can see you guys give it lots of importance here, don't you?"

"Time is…" her words trailed off, and Uraraka stared at Jack's skin fading into a pale color, her hands starting to shake. Her breathing was quickening, getting denser and harder to swallow. Suddenly, small dots blinded Jack's vision, and she hunched over a little, making Uraraka finally get near to her and rub her up and down. "It's a touchy subject, and it brings me great pain to talk about it without freaking out. I'm sorry for this."

This visibly alarmed Uraraka, who recoiled a bit from her. Jack was by far the most passive and unemotional person she had gotten to know this far, and seeing her so torn with this subject– it brought Uraraka the worst of fears imaginable, her hands heavier with confusion, anxiety, and the heaviness of Jack's voice still writhing inside of her. The girl luckily noticed how affected Uraraka had been by her words, and smiled apologetically.

"Please, don't get so worked up!" exclaimed Jack with alarm, care and urgency. Her eyes bounced on Uraraka's thundering ones. "I promise it's not that bad! I can be a worry wort sometimes."

The other's eyes narrowed, trying to count in how many universes Jack would be showing such crippling emotions in front of her without a reason. "I don't know why that sounds like a big damned lie."

Jack sighed, because of course she would see right through her. Again, that woman was not stupid. "Look, all this stuff is better explained by someone like Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, or Tokoyami, even. You should go to the library soon for some details on that."

Uraraka blinked recalling Yaoyorozu's words, then nodded with a content smile. Jack's words had been put aside for now, but not forgotten at all. "Ah, Yaoyorozu did tell me about it. I will check it out tonight when your mates come back from their mission."

"Tonight?" her tone was so disbelievingly amazed and surprised that Uraraka didn't know what to do but nod. She wasn't accustomed to their ways in life, their traditions or their schedules, so she had no idea about how to react sometimes. People there were different, their expressions so unique among them and their bonds seemed strong, cautelous and tough to shatter. Uraraka felt too out of place in their midst. "Why so late?"

There was a faint, crashing sound in a far away corner of her their hearing range, but it made the sorcerer tremble all the same.

"What do you mean by–"

"URARAKAAAAAAA!"

And the brunette got the surprise of her life when she saw the feisty leader of the guild stomping his way to her, teeth shining in all their glory and looking a pinch more menacing than the other night– and that was hard to accomplish. So when she saw them all marching into the guild, sporting tired looks except Bakugou who was glowering at her, all she could do was jump and scurry backwards.

"WAH! What the hell are you guys doing back so soon!?"

Bakugou stood in front of her, acknowledging Jack with a nod. His arms were crossed, muscles clenched in tension upon seeing the scruffy sorcerer still in his territory, and his fangs were showed to her menacingly, in a way that only and animal like him would– and somehow, this didn't come as a shock to her. Yet, his sandish locks shone under the glaring noon sun, his eyes shadowed by spare tresses, and his skin looked like the one of a god, silky yet full of injuries.

This man still looked like a king to her, but she didn't even flinch. Before Bakugou could spat any insults at her for not facing him right up – something he didn't even think about, too distracted by Jack's pale skin and how Uraraka was also trembling – Kirishima spoke up, the leader staring at Uraraka with disdain. Her hands tightened into fists while pushing those embers of his down.

"We had it rough back there, and Mr. Grumpy Pants is too pissed to even care about Asui almost limping her way back. Thank goodness we have Tokoyami around." she had heard that name twice now, and it made her want to know that person even more than before. And who on earth was Asui? "Either way lil' lady, he just came running here thundering about a fight and crushing you– idea I'm clearly against," Bakugou turned and glared at him with all intentions to break his neck. "but I can't interfere here, I think."

"Don't even think about it." spoke Iida from behind. "Master clearly desires to make Uraraka bite the dust. Why so badly? No one knows."

The blonde ended up turning around and raising his fists. Uraraka looked at him swing between anger, ire, recollection and insanity in the span of a single minute. She was shocked. "WHO EVEN ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION, FOUR-EYES!?"

Midoriya rested a hand on Bakugou's shoulder, who once again like the prior night, almost screamed at his touch. Before he could rightfully complain about such privacy outrage, Midoriya was already trying to calm him down. "Please, calm down already. We need some rest, then you can–"

"I'm not some darn loser with muscular problems, thank you very fucking much, greenlocks!" exclaimed Bakugou, murder spree long forgotten until he looked at Uraraka again and–oh boy, that glint was back again, burning into her molten chocolate orbs with painful intentions. "I don't need these guys' pity, got it? I can fucking manage to turn you into a mess of bones and flesh before next bird chirps!"

Jack stood up, brushing off some dust from her black pants. "Bakugou, you guys need serious rest." he was going to scream at her in indignation before her palms rose in defense. "But whatever sails your boat. I'm gonna take Asui to Shuzenji before you burn the whole place down."

The fact that everyone was taking her future death so lightly put Uraraka on edge– so much that her spine was tense in apprehension, and her whole body was in alert in case Bakugou decided to start the battle right there. She had expected the fight to be soon, but not this soon. And she couldn't tell if this arrangement was better than waiting patiently for her death penalty.

Before she could decide what emotional approach to take about the ordeal, Bakugou's sword came to strike her next to her head, his hiss near her face as he bent in front of her– yet, she was seemingly unfazed, and this drove him up a fucking wall. He was inches apart from her and he was being so brash, swift and uncareful with his actions that she couldn't ponder if they were rude or strangely arousing. Whatever this guy's deal was, it sparked a dangerous fuse deep within her.

"You better be ready, angelface." murmured Bakugou, digging the sword a little bit deeper into the stone. "I give you ten minutes to get your gear ready, or I'll come hunting you down– and I don't think you want me to go witch hunting."

His blade was out a second later, and he was away a glare and a swish of his cape later. It was a wonder how he could properly battle with that red cape flowing in his way, and it only made her ask herself if he'd wear it during battle. When the area was stark naked of people, she got up with a sharp breath and hurried to the blacksmith, squealing all the way.

* * *

There was this eerie hint in the square when she stepped out of the main building. There was no fog, no clouds in the sky, and despite the weather making it uncalled for, the place was stark of the chatter that made this guild so known. The moment she walked out, she had seen Bakugou sitting on a rock leisurely, a huge, long axe at his back with battle gloves. When he heard her steps, he had immediately stood up, swinging the weapon back and forth.

She noticed that Kirishima, Mina and Jack were there, as probably the others were resting from their journey. Still, the fact that even 4 people were there to either cheer her on or boo at her both surprised her and made her feel nervous. But this wasn't the point now. He pointed the axe at her, and Uraraka gripped her new staff tighter, feeling it issue its natural soothing essence.

"Okay midget, rules." spat Bakugou. "No cura shit, no shields, no nothing. We are one on one here. No hugs and kisses will cut it – I know you are full of cheesy shit, so don't try to talk me out of this, I already fucking warned you beforehand." his axe touched the ground, making an awfully loud noise and she realized that it must weight tons if it clunked so hard against the stone. "I'm not gonna hold back on you, so just be aware that this is going to hurt you pretty badly."

Uraraka sighed. "Are you trying to warn me?" the confidence was clear in her voice and it made agood work of masking the nervousness behind. It made Bakugou smirk, hope rising high: a confident warrior made a fight entertaining. "You are the one at disadvantage here."

"I don't give a fuck. You don't know what shit I can do with this beauty I have here." oh, so he was the extra type of guy who flirted with his weapons. What a turn on. "So I don't want you to be crying your ass off on me. I expect you to put up a mildly decent fight."

She breathed in, deep. Her faked tranquility made the three spectators be at ease, but they knew that the trouble beneath her eyes was impossible to hide from the sky, and Bakugou had noticed that nervous spark too. It only added wood to his flames, already set on fire and dying to bathe in her blood. "I don't care what you do to my body as long as you don't care about what I shall make with yours. So stop trying to scare me off,"

Her hand shot up, beckoning him to strike a hit on her with a fake– oh, it was so fake, but Bakugou drank from it anyway. "and bring it on, master."

"You're gonna regret this so badly," and there he went, axe swung back to cut her body in half. "you damn witch!"

But when his axe made contact with the air of her space, she vanished. He was met with the whoosh of dust at her wake, Uraraka standing now behind him after a great jump. "Don't dismiss me, you barbarian!"

With a swing of her staff, a whirl of strong winds came to knock him over, obedient to her call, but Bakugou was quick to use the momentum of his previous attack to throw his axe at Uraraka. The wind crashed on the weapon instead, and Bakugou wanted to laugh. "Oi, that's all you got?"

He wanted to laugh again as he was met with silence. However, when her voice chirped up again, he got a mild chill running down his back. Her staff pounded the ground, and there was a deep beneath rumble.

"I'm afraid not, mister!"

Her foot stepped forward, and a column of spikes escalated from the depths of Earth and struck him from beneath, sending him a few meters away from his prey. Before he could even recover from the strike, her staff was swinging again. Before her hellfire of flames could burn his skin, his axe swiftly chased them away with a quick sweep, a shadow cast on his eyes– and Uraraka flinched with the realization, a little shaken.

A power axe, the only kind of weaponry that could deflect magic so easily. Of course he would be careful despite his towering stance: he was a monster, but not a stupid one. His glare bore into her shaking eyes, dangerous blood of a cut on his cheek. He wiped it away and licked the red liquid. "You bitch."

And wordlessly, he swung his axe again, making her stagger a bit in her place. As a far attacker, Uraraka's best choice was to stay in a place to control her magic, so all she needed to do was keep him at bay. However, he was recovering terrifyingly fast from her attacks, making her shrink a little bit in her place. She took a step back and raised her staff to the heavens. "I'm not losing now, Bakugou!"

An endless charade of wilder winds knocked him to the side, but he easily rolled, mild scrapes not even making him hiss in pain, and continued on his way to her. She swung her staff to him, but suddenly, time stopped. A miscalculation in her attack, Bakugou leaping at her in the wrong moment.

His axe came to slice her in half, the red in his eyes never faltering as he thought he had her in his claws– pictures of her protruding skin, her delightful wails of fear, all fueling his muscles with anew desire for disgrace. However, she was quick enough to dodge and his axe didn't cut any of her skin– her staff. His axe cut straight through it, the axe trajectory barely missing her head.

Uraraka felt Bakugou close to her and she leaped out of his reach before his axe got her waist, and made it to the other end of the plaza.

"So you're playing tag game now, huh?" his voice was deep, strong, as he took the remains of her wooden staff and blew them away with his ability, smirk never wearing off from his face. "Lousy attacks, bad focus, and you still dare call yourself a sorcerer. Pitiful."

Damn him – Uraraka cleaned some sweat off her forehead, already a little worn off from escaping his attacks and firing spells at him. She had no scratches on her face, no blood like he had, but she still was at disadvantage there. He wasn't aiming to wear her off little by little, but kill her straight away. Hand-wielder magic was even more draining than staff-based techniques, so now she had very few ways to go.

The sorcerer remembered the feeling of fire abrassing her palms, an unharming barricade of embers thriving on her hands, the feeling of metal solid ground, and that sense of chaos, havoc, utter disarray. She could feel ashen winds slapping her heart with hammering emotion, all swirling inside of her and creating a low-rumble euphoria of power. Stamina was bubbling deep inside of her, but so much moving had drained her considerably. Regardless, she couldn't afford giving up now.

A swish of his axe came at her slower form, cutting part of the skin of her cheeks and arm deep within, and felt the sting– oh, so much more than a sting, as if a blade had cut right through her and he was shifting with the metal, trying to find her softest spots. She wanted to scream at the huge cut he had managed to land on her, but didn't have the guts to give him the pleasure of hearing her scream. Instead, all she let out was a deep wince, caressing her cheek with gentleness.

And, suddenly, he was coming at her again– but she wasn't having none of that, so she pushed forward and ran to him, hands glowing with a light that Bakugou didn't know, but all he could feel was that the fight was getting real now, that his smirk was getting wider as she got more tired, as her blood leaked faster, and he was fucking dying to chop her wizard ass into pieces.

His axe aimed for her leg because he needed to have her nice and still, but she jumped up and touched his shoulders, propelling herself up with the impulse and called out her ability. She gave him a push in mid-air, then, he was weightless. But this didn't surprise him, as it would have been weird for her not to use her ability at some point, and he swung at her again– the tip of his axe tore at the muscle of her shoulder and actually tugged up, tearing apart one of the muscles there, there, where he knew it'd hurt.

The pain went unnoticed at first, just a little pang of feeling branching throughout her shrieking body. But as soon as air blew into the blood, she let out a loud grunt– her palm was coated in blood, feeling the blobs of think, red liquid starting to penetrate into the clothing. The pain was searing, Uraraka couldn't feel anything else than hurt, electric pain running through her. In order to remain shut, she bit her inner cheek, draining some blood from there too– and Bakugou only frowned harder, still floating by her side, his glower intensifying the more she weakened, yet didn't speak out her feelings.

Oh, what a beautiful, sadistic monster, making her drink her own blood for his own pleasure. She clutched the bleeding wound harder and gave him a good kick out of her space, then weakly released him from the gravitational pull. There was a hard hush of dust lying on the ground as he flew away from her, the wave of the break thudding hard against the ground, blowing away some rubble with a deaf sound of movement.

But she wasn't wasting anymore time. Uraraka gathered all her strength and focused on the man meters away from her, her magic strengthening and pouring all her prowess on her final blow. Shoulder still bleeding, enemy sitting with his axe equipped and her energies still leaving her, crashing at the seams, she screamed and slammed her hand to the ground.

A fire seal surrounded Bakugou, and the day got cloudier– darker, only darker, and he dared look up. A meteor was falling down on him, rushing its way to the ground and making Bakugou gulp in impression, all while Uraraka just made it fall quicker, the impact be as painful as possible, and she screamed in pain as her shoulder and cheeks screamed in pain, all in unison to crush him underneath a planet of rubble, dirt–

He swung his axe up with a loud growl of effort, and the meteor exploded into a fuckton of burning rocks aiming at them. There was a deaf sound when the humongous rock shattered, and a wild stream of pressure came along, making the ground beneath their feet tremble in alteration. The impact sent Uraraka meters behind, but she was able to land on her feet, a hand supporting her weight on the ground.

Bakugou, meanwhile, stood tall and proud some meters away from her in the middle of the scorching debris, a wicked smirk on his face. Burns and wounds marred his chest, and his arm was shaking after having to swing his axe so high and strong with so little time. He cleaned some dirt from the corner of his lips with the back of his hand. His stomach lurched in thrill, making him wonder where this sick weirdo had been all along to come so proud albeit tiny and attempt to crush him so unceremoniously.

Oh, Uraraka had almost gotten him, and the earthquake had sure– hold on. He looked around him to see that not only the buildings around him surrounded by a thick, greenish layer of light, but that also the territory behind Uraraka – where his shitless scared guild mates stood – was tainted with this light. That was when he understood, and he had never been more torn between amazement and pure anger.

"You…" Uraraka tried to recover her breath, words fluttering out of her throat with haste, managing to stand tall and proud despite that attack almost taking her out completely. Somehow, having him as a rival was fueling her with a dangerous gasoline of fire and blood. "don't know anything about my power."

Her clothes were torn due to his axe's power swings, there was blood all around her right side, and her hands were swollen. Her knees were wobbling, hands supporting her whole weight on them. She was bleeding, he was too. And yet, despite being in this condition…

"You fucking protected the guild." upon his voice, the walls faded for her to her to her strength back, and this only confirmed his theory. "You did this. Even if I told you to just give your all, you still–"

"I don't desire to hurt anybody beside you." spoke she gently, already standing proud again for another beating. "I don't think your fellow guild mates deserve to suffer from a strike like that."

Bakugou stood again as composed as ever, yet his eyes had turned somewhat kinder, but still held bubbling violence. She might be a rookie sorcerer, a witch, a damn magician– but she was giving him an entertaining fight and he'd honor her by giving her the most glorious death she'd ever suffer. "Stop it with the love confession, Uraraka." growled Bakugou, took his axe again with both hands to start hitting her with power threads. "YOU AIN'T PAST THE CUT, DIE ALREADY!"

He swung and swung, but she sent wind barricades to nullify his advances. Yet, her magic was running out of potency, and her attempts became frailer and frailer until she couldn't keep up with him. There came a moment in which he was fed up of her existence, and decided to end it all with his red irises scalding her alive, cooking her in a stove until she screamed for mercy, imagining a lot of scenarios where this could have gone better for him, for her too– but he'd never admit it out loud – yet, he found that this was a pleasurable outcome too.

"DIE, WITCH!" he finally threw his axe to her, and it came swindling and rounding and spinning, as if deciding with which edge to kill her–

"STOP ALREADY!"

Her hands made a cross and sliced the air around her, a deaf trembling impact, void sound rippling around the dust and blowing it away– she gasped, air knocked out of her bleeding lungs.

The axe that was just a pair of inches away from reaching her was knocked out of orbit and thrown backwards in a cold, chilling and deep wave of wind that rushed around the whole battle area, pressing Uraraka away from her previous spot, boots hissing against the stone, and forcing Bakugou to cover his eyes at the sudden gust of dead cold wind. From the corner of his vision, he saw his deadly weapon shyly fly away from him, landing meters behind his taken aback self.

And when he looked at it closely– his breath hitched. When he blinked though, only feeble water drops dripped from its sharp edges, the ice nowhere to be found, and it made him wonder if he had just seen some kind of mirage in the midst of the glaring sun. Bakugou looked back at her again, dumbstruck with the sight she was offering him. Shoulders heaving up and down, her hair shadowed her eyes in a dangerous glare as she panted. A damn sly, misconceived little girl. With such move, there was no way he'd mistake her anymore.

"What the shit." breathed he. Then a humorless smirk made its way through his face. His voice was loud and bright, as if mocking yet undeniably surprised and livid. "I should have known you were a damn evil minx."

As soon as he had the axe in hand, he dangerously neared her, darkness cast on his eyes. She didn't even react to his dreary proximity, but chose to let her knees buckle and he effortlessly had her lying on the ground, straddling her. Blood was pooling around her right side, and he swore this should be more pleasing than this living hell of both wanting more blood from her but also needing her to stay alive so he'd get a decent piercing scream from her. He didn't want this violent lust he was feeling– he needed satisfaction from her pain. Yet, she had been acting like nothing hurt when she was a weakling , had put a decent fight, wasn't flinching, and had endured the pain of cut muscles with the slightest of reactions – so even when he had her under him, he wasn't over with this.

His axe came grazing her red stained throat, the pool only getting bigger– and he could only wonder how much she had left until she died. If the world were to decide, he was damn sure she'd be dead. "What game are you playing, Uraraka?"

She had impressed him.

She had surpassed his boundaries by not only putting up a good fight, but also protecting his guild. That was worth admiring and Bakugou was all but ready to admit that– he was a good winner, but felt like a sore loser. He couldn't have her dying without him feeling pleased about it. "Oi, don't ignore me!" spat he, fisting the neck of her pink uniform. Her hat had been torn, legs bloody and clothes tainted in beautifully sinful scarlet. "Answer me, Uraraka!"

Her eyes blinked up at him blankly. She clearly couldn't handle blood loss– stars dotted her vision and made Bakugou hide behind a bush of pain; her hearing was running dry and deaf while she lost the notion of touch. A moment later, she couldn't even know where the ground was, or how she was lying when the sky looked as if it was crashing on her, or maybe she was sinking into its blue paradise.

The blood only pooled even wider, tainting her locks in deep passion. It was unwelcome, unwanted, yet she wouldn't have had this fight any other way. All she could feel was Bakugou's hand on her back, steps nearing her, and a numbing ice cold spike at the tips of her fingers, fighting to break free.

"Oi, answer me! Oi, Oi, Uraraka!" her eyes were fluttering close, heavy and tired. "Oi, don't fucking… ie on… e you piece of…!"

* * *

When she fell beneath a blanket of damp confort, she could still remember the pangs of his axe, and noticed that, in the end, he hadn't worn his cape or fur.

Ah – mused she, non thoughtfully – so he took her seriously, after all.

All she could recall during her time being a fallen star in her scattered mind was feeling something on her fingers, something blander this time, liquid, and having it taken away from her in a second. Yet, it seemed like an unreachable memory, and all she could do was just wonder aimlessly, again.

* * *

When Uraraka woke up, the first thought that came to her mind was that the whole day had been too bizarre to be real. Nightime had long rolled into the sky for the time she opened her eyes again, and the sight had been blurry, painful, confusing– her first thought was that it had been a nightmare, her shoulder too bandaged and heavy to even be material. Yet, she taunted the fabric under her fingertips, and found out that it was there.

Yeah, that bastard was going to scar pretty badly.

Uraraka propped her legs out of the bed sheets and carefully set her toes on the cold floor. She started to rub her face with her bruised hands, and a sharp pang of pain shot straight afterwards. She hissed silently and peeked to see the extent of Bakugou's doing. The fabric was a bit stained, but perfectly strapped and cured. Shuzenji must have left the skin to cure itself so it wouldn't get used to quick healing.

What a day – thought Uraraka tiredly, but sleepless. Despite having been lying on a bed for what seemed to be like hours on end, her body clearly felt like she hadn't had a brink of sleep. Yet, her eyes weren't sore with exhaustion and her thoughts were collected, no signs of psychological trauma around. She now repaired on the fact that she was wearing the very same uniform she sported back at the fight, yet it had been either sown or straight replaced.

Uraraka got up from the bed with little moan of pain. That shoulder was going to be a handful to deal with. The wooden floor creaked under her weight, the night silent and devoid of any guild mate trying to make this easier for her. The wind whistled outside her room around the previously wrecked plaza, and as she peeked now from the window, it seemed like thanks to her shield back there, no building had received any damage after the meteor shower.

She could still feel the ripple of gravity underneath her and the thick scarlet blood running rivers around her head, the same color that had tainted Bakugou's furious glare. It was all too vivid to her, she could still feel the edges of his unstoppable axe cutting deep into her. He hadn't brought any kind of toy sword just to spite on her, so that's a good thing she got from the experience.

Uraraka had her mind set on wandering a bit aimlessly around the guild building, but decided against it when she remembered that it was probably close to midnight and she had some sort of date at the top of the clock tower. She grabbed a blanket from a seat on a corner– more like tugged it out of its covering function, and draped it around herself. Then, she grabbed a candle and lit it up with ease, getting burnt the following second.

Yes, yes, she should have remembered. Using magic when being so weak or injured was a great risk, and elements tended to be bitchy to play with when the body couldn't control it properly. Sorcerers needed to be careful with the element they were playing with, watch after its power and grow the body to encase the potency of powerful spells. Tiny bodies couldn't use great magic without being hurt by its nature. Elements could backfire when one didn't control the amount of power they were using.

Therefore, her own little flame had burned her fingertip, making her hiss and reprimand herself for being such a weakling. She wasn't being mindful enough, too physically drained to even watch after a silly light. At least the candle was lit, and when she closed the door silently behind her, it only flickered without wavering too much. She could have called out a light orb, but her body could handle so much now until it collapsed again.

That rejecting tactic against Bakugou had been the nail on the coffin. She had been like a cup of water, full to the brim with water and managing to hold it all in place– but that knock barricade had been the droplet to make it overflow. And by the look of his eyes a second later, how they had changed from bravery to just anger and insanity, he had noticed as well.

Her feet instinctively carried her along the corridors, as her mind was too damp in dread for tomorrow to even focus on where she was going. Regardless of the mild darkness, Uraraka could easily find the way to the clock tower. Her corridor had three other rooms before it ended in a wide open door, a thick and slightly decrepit one. She swung it open completely and sneaked a glance outside before deeming it safe to step out. Her steps were like ghosts, the red soft rug warm against her soles. The only things illuminating the place were the candles around her.

Behind the door was a carpeted staircase that led upwards, and the thought of going on a nighttime exploring trip made her both get excited and a little bit scared. This place was completely unknown for her, so the thought of crashing heads with somebody didn't appeal her in the slightest. In fact, if somebody were to sneak up on her this late in the night, she'd be running away from the village at light speed.

Luckily for her, no one came to her that night. She was able to walk a little around the first and probably only floor of the clock tower before finding the library. The staircase went on and started spiraling a bit ahead, but she guessed that was the path for the balcony. The clock tower was a little bit smaller than expected: maybe six meters of diameter for an almost round tower. Not small, not claustrophobic, yet a bit cold and bleak.

Fortunately she saw a door open just a creak, throwing a thread of light onto the floor nearby. Uraraka breathed in deep and knocked twice before meekly making her way in. As she had expected, Yaoyorozu was reading a book on the… only desk of the room. It was a rather, again, small room, surrounded by shelves of thick books and lots of scrolls on a bureau at the back. In the middle, the black haired knight sat, surprised after seeing Uraraka awake so soon.

"Uraraka! I thought you'd be out of commission for the whole day."

She titled her head. "Well, I have, the whole day – so now I am here, during night." stated she dryly.

"Ah, so much wit beats within you, Uraraka. It's good to see that spark around here." the knight chuckled with humor. All the brunette could think about was how freaking small the place was and ask herself how this woman was still awake after being out in a hard-looking voyage to a freaking volcano. "Anyway… what brings you here?"

Uraraka saw the girl picking up a book from the table and put it on the shelves. The table was devoid of materials, so Yaoyorozu must have been in her way out before she knocked on the door. "Ah, I have been talking to Jack and…"

She trailed off to try and see if she could find out a good way to put things in a delicate way to not unsettle Yaoyorozu's peaceful aura. She tugged at the high collar of her uniform as the other spoke. "Now that you are here, I'll tell you that you did a good job with Bakugou out there."

The brunette felt like she had been slapped. Twice. It was as if Yaoyorozu had ignored her inner turmoil and snapped with a now irrelevant topic that still made Uraraka blink in surprise, since that was the last compliment she had expected to receive from somebody who looked so powerful and beautiful, such a mighty knight – she, however, was a mess of hairs and scratches. "Ah, thank you very much!" exclaimed the brunette. "Although… he got me really good. I felt like I wouldn't be able to tell the tale after such encounter. He sure enjoys bloodshed, huh."

"We were all watching from the infirmary wing, and it's not like you didn't hurt him either. I must admit to you though, that he was harsher than usual." she giggled when Uraraka was 100% sure that the situation hadn't had any fun at all, but she went along with it.

The whole meaning of the sentence only got to her a second later. "Wait, you guys were watching us!?"

And there she was smiling again. "Only a few of us would have betted all our gold on you. Kirishima did, for a fact, and I bet that if Asui had been awake, she would have. I didn't."

Uraraka didn't know if she should be elated, after all she had been beaten until she couldn't breathe. Maybe she should apologize to Kirishima for having such faith on her when he had been watching her from afar and had been probably disappointed. She was such a weakling. It was no wonder why nobody had faith in her skills, just look at her chubby cheeks and gentle eyes and try to find some backbone in her. Of course she couldn't feel offended at Yaoyorozu not believing in her.

When she started biting on her knuckles, Yaoyorozu grew alarmed. "Please, don't panic. You did a fine job at almost taking him out with that meteor shower. It was spectacular to watch."

A grin curled against her face, undeniable warmth writhing in her stomach after such heartfelt sentiment stemming out of that earnest girl. "I'm glad I at least gave you guys some entertainment."

But then she thought about the other part that Yaoyorozu had said, about their leader's edge towards sorcerers, and her nerves weren't at ease. Actually, she had been all over the place ever since Bakugou had almost sliced her throat in twain with his little toy sword. Menacing words about her being an unwanted sorcerer had rolled off so easily from his venomous tongue, had stunned her for a while and pinned her between a decision and a hard place to stay in.

Uraraka sighed, hands grasping the edges of her shawl after leaving the candle on the table before her. She felt like she was no more than a foreigner poking unwanted holes into this guild's business when she wasn't the most wanted newcomer, yet she couldn't help but ask.

"Yaoyorozu," the aforementioned hummed. "why does Bakugou hate sorcerers so much?"

Clearly the black haired warrior hadn't expected this question, as it seemed like Uraraka had broken her. Yaoyorozu stared at the sorcerer, unblinking, and her legs had grown tense under the big millionaire question. Uraraka felt immediately sorry for being overly curious, and leaned in to vow the sincerest apology she could muster. "I'm so–"

"It's a long story."

The gentleness in her voice made Uraraka's hopes and head rise in anticipation, and the sorcerer was lighting fast to pull a chair out and sit on it, hands on her lap. "I have plenty of time! I don't think I will be going to bed anytime soon with my shoulder like this."

Yaoyorozu sighed with a small smile, finding her curiosity endearing. Although there was spark in her eyes–a fire, something burning her inside that little sorcerer that called her attention, a soul set aflame by circumstances and something behind the curtains she couldn't name, but she pushed it aside. "I don't know how to put this softly without you being offended."

Uraraka raised an eyebrow at the knight, crossing her legs and arms to show how much patience she had in her. It was true that her being offended would be a given as long as Bakugou was around, so it wasn't like she wasn't going to need to get used to offense. Yaoyorozu sat on the table, her thick clothes crumpling at the shift in positions.

"You sorcerers are… a bit of a menace, right now. It's a complex matter and–"

"Please, stop thinking I'm stupid…" spoke Uraraka without thinking. Her voice could sound stale and dead, but it held a worry that Yaoyorozu could see easily in her eyes. Sometimes, faces didn't wholly reach the eyes.

"You sorcerers are dangerous, in a sense." started Yaoyorozu, her brows sinking a little bit. "People like you hold a terrifyingly enormous amount of power inside of you. You can drown nations, summon thunderstorms, burn forests down– your powers are so intangible and insane that not even three of my crew would stand a minute against a prepared sorcerer. It's impossible. But you…" Yaoyorozu drew closer to her, and her gloved index poked Uraraka's reddened nose. "you guys can also warp. With enough potential, you can cross humankind boundaries, step on stars, walk on the sea."

This chunk startled Uraraka. She had known that her powers had the potential to become great with enough training– hell, she had been able to summon a meteor from the sky just a few hours ago and make it almost smash a beast against stone grounds. Of course she had the power, but hearing it be so magnified made her thrilled. However, Yaoyorozu's tone was all but excited: her head was down, looking at her hands, like a woman who had been defeated before the war had even began.

"Have you ever travelled in time, Uraraka?" her tone was suddenly higher, as if accusatory, and it filled the whole room. "Time travelling is one kind of magic technique, but it's above basic learning. It takes months to master, and even with that much training one can still struggle with the power it holds. It's been greatly documented, yet scarcely tested…"

Uraraka was getting a sense of dread from all this tension building. She could feel a great boulder hanging an inch above her head, ready to crush her as soon as the frail thread snapped. She could feel it giving in, making her dizzy in anxiety– her hands grasped the fabric of her dress tighter than she noticed.

"Our times are... starting to get strained."

The weight still didn't come crashing on her, but it drew a bit closer. Still, the sinking feeling that invaded her still drew her closer to the edge, her mind trying to grasp the whole meaning of it all– but was Yaoyorozu trying to imply now? Her mouth hung agape for a moment, as if tasting the metallic, bloody flavor of the truth. Her trembling stilled as she shook her head.

"All you need to know is that… time travelers are dangerous. They are tearing space apart by altering our timeline, they are skipping ages and ages, twisting the time threads as if they were butter. They are making things tangle." she was silently praying for Uraraka to be able to cope with this, because what she was going to say now wasn't easy to swallow. "You are dangerous. As a sorcerer, you are a threat to humankind, to this village. Ultimately, you are a threat to Bakugou."

There. The wave washed her over in trepidation, goosebumps coating her skin as her knees trembled, and the ground beneath her shattered, abandoning her in a dizzy mess of parts. Suddenly, she had the urge to vomit out of pure anxiety. She almost did.

"If we had stuck to what Bakugou ordered, I can assure you," she jumped from the table and leaned over, her hair brushing with Uraraka's cheek as she whispered a theat. "you'd be dead where you stand."

Uraraka tried to calm herself down by tearing apart some of her robe's fabric, as Yaoyorozu stood dangerously near her seconds after her words and there was no way the sorcerer would pull her away. A dangerous shadow lurked behind her eyes, a spark so intense that no tsunami would be able to drown it down. Her arms were closed, muscles tense and jaw tense. The sorcerer shrunk a little, then relaxed visibly when the knight retreated.

"Fortunately, not all sorcerers are a threat. In fact, a minimum part of them do actually travel in time. Sorcerers that time travel are often overlooked by society– but here in Yuuei, we never do. You still are a valuable asset for us, and because we don't believe you are a threat, we don't intend to harm you." Yaoyorozu smiled gently when Uraraka breathed out, finally, free of any grudge she clearly had nothing to do with. "Bakugou still seethes over your profession as a sorcerer, but I believe that once he sees you are not a threat, he'll be fine with you. It's not like times will be destroyed anytime soon or something like that… but having them twisted is already a mess, and a potential threat."

"But… if times are being tangled as you say…" spoke Uraraka, still riding on the dread horse– to only start yelling like a maniac. "Then why the hell aren't those bastards being chased down!? Why are we still standing here like–"

"It's not like there is an organized group of people doing this."

Uraraka looked up to see Yaoyorozu sighing.

"It is rumored that there is just a single man leading this madness. No one knows the reason, or even how many people are actually operating this." answered the knight, grim to the eye. "But since it's been documented that sorcerers are the only ones able to do this, people went crazy once the data was released. People did the math quickly. There was no way people wouldn't be afraid of sorcerers doing this trick despite very few scarce examples of this being true existing."

"So, you think there's only a sole time traveler?" after a minute of thought, Yaoyorozu nodded. "Why?"

"To be honest, the theory of many time travelers existing in this very same village sounds convoluted and exaggerated. Timelines are fragile, a single travel among them can cause a crack on their stability." explained the knight, taking a few books out. "This science is mostly conspiratory, and not at all proven. Yet, the strain of our time is evident."

"How so?"

"Remember the glass of water from this morning?" Uraraka could clearly remember the soothing water down her throat and suddenly thought how nice it'd feel right now. "No one ever brought it to you. In fact, when we got to your room, there was no glass of water."

That fact caught her completely off guard. "Is this a joke?"

"Do I appear to be joking?" the answer was a flat no from the sorcerer. "Objects are popping out without us noticing. Little items are swaying between dimensions, timelines, floating. The weaker the timeline is, the easier it is for things to get mixed up. Our memories, the littlest of things, get mixed with others', be it antecessors' or them just getting temporarily scrambled. A part of me fears that you may be suffering of this setback… but it doesn't seem like it."

Uraraka scratched her cheek, trying to tidy up her head to see if she had grasped the whole ordeal they were facing. "So you're basically telling me that timelines are getting… mixed, worn off, because somebody is freely travelling among them?"

"It's my first theory, but I'm still wary of some sorcerers among the village. I doubt the culprit lives here, but it's just a force of nature." she still smiled again despite her mean words, and Uraraka found herself to be undeniably relaxed now– well, not completely because, you know, it turns out like her little visit at the guild was getting a little bit crazy. "But I think we can trust you. If Bakugou didn't tear your insides apart while he had the opportunity and even carried you to Shuzenji, I'd say he sees some value in keeping you alive."

"Not all of us do, though."

Uraraka jumped in her seat at the sound of a voice behind her. The very same bird boy that hadn't approached her during her entrance into the building– more like limping, and had been invisible during her exchange with the members, stood by the door, eyes frowning. He wore a mysterious dark cloak and his hand was grasping the hem at the neck. "What the–!"

"I don't give a damn if you are all good looks and red puff cheeks." snarled he, voice not angry, but obviously threatening. "I won't oppose to your stay at our guild since I do believe you have power. But just because you have power, I'll be watching your steps."

"Tokoyami, there is no need to be so overly rude to her." Yaoyorozu motherly rubbed Uraraka's shoulders, and the girl grimaced at the painful gesture.

The boy didn't flinch or change his opinion on the matter. "This girl is dangerous, even Bakugou said so after their fight." and clearly he shouldn't have said that, as they were speaking as if she was a child and she actually wasn't there. "I don't think that humoring her is a wise decision, but I am not unbiased, either." he approached her and jabbed her forehead. What was with all these people attacking her face with fingers? "I just hope you can behave here. The others may be trying to trust you, but winning me over is no easy task."

"Tokoyami…"

The boy looked at her one last time and turned around to leave. "The others may trust you and believe you are not going to meddle further into this subject, but I can tell you I don't trust you not to be one of them. Just know I'll be watching you, Bakugou as well. We're not letting you off the hook that easily." he had one foot out the door when his head turned to the side. "Bakugou is at the top of the clock tower. If you desire to talk to him, do so before he blows the guild up."

The boy quickly made his way out of the room before Uraraka stood up abruptly to shout at him some kind of defense, but her words wouldn't have received any profit nor been completely earnest. After all, it was true that, from their point of view, she was a universal hazard. If Uraraka were to learn time travelling to get stronger, she'd be endangering their timeline and bringing it closer to collapse. It was evident that not everyone would trust her enough to not do that– actually, if she were in their shoes, there is no way she'd trust a menace like her.

It dawned on her, again, that this guild was too good and trusting. It seems like they had gotten the same trusting and warm vibe that she had received from them the very first moment she came into the guild. It just looked like now, they had reasons to be careful with her given the power she had displayed at the battle, but they'd be willing to give her a chance. Well, Bakugou probably wouldn't – but that's why Tokoyami had probably told her about Bakugou being in her reach, to show him that she deserved a chance.

Deep inside, he was giving her a chance to prove herself, too. As she smiled to the door, Yaoyorozu gave her a push. "Go talk to Bakugou, he was fuming by the time we got you into recuperation. I think you can try to talk some sense into him, after all."

Somehow, a part of her was excited to see him and win her self-set challenge, but she also knew there was something else she had to do. Another part of her, in another space and time, had felt something different for that man.

It was raining somewhere else.

* * *

The way to the staircase had been walked like a grasshopper skips rocks in a river: a careful stride to reach the other end of a far away shore, reaching out with stretched hands, dainty fingertips struggling to touch the desired grass. In the end, one may complete the path and be victorious, but you never know what to expect at the other side of the river.

Uraraka didn't hold many expectations – and she realized this with her heart clutched tightly to her chest. She was a brave woman, and sometimes felt like she was being utterly stupid for putting up a fight against a damn straight psychopath. Her mind was diffused between places, sometimes thinking she was doing the right thing by holding her ground against him– but after Yaoyorozu's explanation, she wasn't that sure anymore that he'd let the violent act towards her drop.

So that was what she was chasing after while going up the clock tower. The moon shone in all its glory and glared at the guild and funneled through some of the narrow windows that escalated the brick walls, but the sinking feeling of being in the dark still cornered Uraraka's heart. A part of her mind was telling her that being so indifferent towards Bakugou would do nothing to fix the situation– but would being a coward so any good? Most people she had met so far weren't afraid of their leader.

But they weren't sorcerers. And she was one of the most wanted yet hated professional out there, people seeking her head to be impaled in a burning stick. She had a few things to say to Bakugou that night, but how to approach him? She felt intimidated, a bit small, but after their violent confrontation she somehow felt at least acknowledged as a fighter.

So… that was good. Now all she had to do was open the door and meet him.

Uraraka clutched the shawl closer to her neck and knocked– she suddenly felt incredibly silly for knocking on a door to a public area. She grasped the knock, the metal ever so cold against her warm fingers, twisted and pushed her way into the clock tower balcony. When she wanted to do a retake on the matter and step back, it was too late, as the door creaked insanely loud and Bakugou had sure heard it opening.

Because there he was, calm and unsettlingly quiet, fists deep in his cargo grey pants and his cape s swaying in the midnight air. The moonlight danced around him, pooling around his form and making him look logical and collected for a second, starts twinkling so brightly that she could point them all and bathe in a sea of galactic madness, getting lost in the vast number of planets that looked down on them, the cold and the warm faces of a same planet.

But then his head turned around slowly, and the corner of his red irises was dangerously fueled with disturbance. His muscles turned harder, teeth pressed together, and Bakugou was back to basics again. "What the hell're you doing here, Uraraka?"

His voice was low, hushed in a hoarse whisper that sounded menacing, as if he was aiming to break her ground as soon as she spoke a single vowel. She closed the door and stepped a bit further, only few meters separating them. It felt like a mountain regardless.

"I… Tokoyami told me you would be here." Bakugou murmured something about him, probably an insult she didn't want to hear. "So I came to see you."

Bakugou snarled at her, then suddenly snickered with such venom that she flinched, yet listened to him patiently. "I can only recall that you were the damn one who swept the floor earlier, and it was all me." Uraraka sighed, and remembered the blood cascading down her bare, little hands. "I don't see the point on coming to see me. Fuck off already."

In all honestly, she didn't really know why, either. Bakugou had been all but humanly kind to her, had even threatened many times with meeting his blade – she should have made her way out of there already, but she somehow didn't find the heart to – and had actually ended up almost killing her. Despite all that, she felt like she needed to come up, speak to him, and tell him… but tell him what?

A part of her knew what was in her mind. So she spoke. "I wanted to– to thank you for taking me to the healer after the fight!"

Well, that wasn't what she had really meant to say, but it was what her heart had dictated, and the way he shifted and his eyes widened the littlest bit before her was entertaining to witness. Despite him not facing her directly, she could tell he was glaring at the sky when he turned to watch the moon. "You deserved it. I can give credit to those who deserve it."

That caught her off guard, because he hadn't displayed this attitude when she had fainted. In fact, it had been just the opposite. So her words obviously came out sputtered, messy and unbelieving. "Are you saying I put up a good fight?"

"I'm not gonna say it again."

Uraraka found the heart to laugh at his soft words, but his frown was back a second later. His cape swirled around following his twirl, and he stomped his way to her while clenching his teeth. "But this ain't mean you're worthy enough for me. A sorcerer will always be a piece of scum for me, and the fact that you are kinda powerful has me more awake now."

"Actually, I–"

His fist clenched around his sword – which she hadn't seen till' then – with a hiss. "What the fuck did I tell you about interruptions?" and her mouth closed. "I don't give a fuck about you being injured, or the fuck that you're all cute and shit." his hands clenched around the big high collar of her uniform through the shawl. "And I don't know what's your deal with my people, but you better not mess around with me. You sorcerers are fucking dangerous and I–"

"That's what I was going to tell you about before you interrupted me!" and his fingers were starting to instinctively burn the shawl, yet he didn't berate her this time, only stared harder at her. She had to be quick or he'd bite her skin off. "I wanted to say worry for… how brash I acted before."

This prompted a harder glare, brushing disbelief and anger. "And why the fuck would you apologize?"

"Well, I had thought that your fear towards sorcerers–"

His grip tightened, and fingers grazed her peachy neck. "It aint a damn fear!"

"–I had thought it was just petty and unfounded! But I talked to Yaoyorozu today…" his grip then lessened unnoticeably, his eyes squinting harder and his muscles tight in anticipation. "… and she told me what was going on with sorcerers around here. I had thought that by giving you a good beating you'd see me as a worthy opponent and your fears would go away… I disregarded you highly."

Bakugou, still clutching her neck, looked at her intensely for, like, five seconds, his breathing silent and untouched by her apology. He let go of her like she was the pest afterwards, looking at his side just to not wander too much into those annoyingly overly sweet eyes of hers. He hated them. And Uraraka looked at him and felt the warmth of her clothing after he had burnt some fibers, but couldn't bring herself to care as she looked at that fearsome monster.

What he said next shattered her resolve completely. "I don't give a damn about your half-assed apologies."

He what? "Excuse me?"

"No, you listen to me, Uraraka. I don't care what apologies you come up with to gain my respect or– or whatever you want from me. Wanna win me over? Ain't happening soon." spat he scornfully while walking away from her, purposefully making her surroundings devoid of any warmth and she felt it like needles stinging her skin. "You damn sorcerers are powerhouses full of shit and sparkles, nothing good is bound to happen from powerhouses aiming to become more powerful than they already are–"

"But–"

"You fucking listen to me!" his sword was drawn now, the blade now gleaming underneath the white, pearly moonlight, but it made her feel all but cozy inside, only anguish filling up her empty illusions. "You sorcerers are just gonna fight for your power no matter who you have to kill or how many people you have to mentally destroy– and I ain't stupid, I know your drill. You're just gonna get what you wanna, defeat who you need, and disappear like you never fucking existed."

"Bakug–"

"And that's exactly what I despise, people destroying people in the name of progress. I don't want your fucking stupid power in my guild." his head was nearing hers, seething, eyes burning craters into her bland mental foundations, and it scared the hell out of her. "Be all powerful and witty all you wanna, but you ain't gonna fucking cut it for me. Powerful people are only fucking bound to live as monsters, and I'm not gonna feed a powerhouse who isn't gonna help others. Not happenin'." he hissed and looked at the ground, eyes narrowed in mental agony. "And not even if you protected the guild for a minute, above all after that unholy trick you pulled at me before."

And that's when she realized that his eyes weren't fire red, or autumn shaded, or sunset inked– her breath hitched. They were pure blood bubbling, thriving and burning muscles, bones, hissing in violence and disturbance at all incoherencies he found and had luck enough to touch– his hands had shot out to her neck, and they were trembling so much, his teeth grinding harder, and his eyes seemed to shine brighter than ever, a wolf chasing its prey and tasting the future blood on his tongue.

"You're not gonna stomp on my fucking guild with that angel face of yours. What you did today is remarkable, yet a fucking danger sign flaring all over the damn place." and he threw her to the ground, yet she was able to land on her feet. "Not gonna let a time traveler mess with these lives. I will never trust anybody who would surely put my peers in danger, therefore you ain't joining us anytime soon."

Her frown deepened in tenfold upon hearing such horrid accusations. "You don't know me enough to know if I'd even join this place to start with! All I came with was an apology and you– you…"

She bit the words back, because a very powerful part of herself was screaming at her to stop. That part of her still felt those odd feelings coming from him, seeing something tangled with those blood eyes of his, yet she couldn't figure out what it was. They stared at each other hard, because he was also biting his words back to not kill her in the very same place. Irony would get him for that later.

"I don't want your apologies, your hugs, nothing. You're a good opponent, I'll give you only that." he growled as he brushed past her, clenching his hands in a hard fist as she did the same, shoulders shaking in what could be described as crippling ire from both parties. "But you're a fucker who will come and screw up with my people. And I can't condone such bullshit."

Before his feet were out the door, her backbone and heart screamed something in unison. "Why don't you try to see what I can do for your guild, like everyone seems to be doing, instead of seeing what I could do against them? Get the stick out of your ass!"

A breeze pushed in between their unfacing forms, with Uraraka biting back tons of unwanted curses and him staring at her from the corner of his sight, seeming to be pondering, munching and swallowing a something, something, something. He spit it out with a grunted goodbye– or a curse, Uraraka didn't even bother to check, and she stroked the burnt edges of her shawl.

"Well," she let out a humorless chuckle. "this was eventful."

But something bigger than a petty universal fear was nagging him, she was sure. And if she wanted to show him otherwise, she'd have to clip her nails off and burn down all those withering, decaying bridges of his.

* * *

"Mama, papa!" squealed a little girl inside the cozy home, her hands clutching a messy canvas in her little chubby hands. Rain splattered outside in the bleak, gray environment surrounding the orange, cozy home. The little child, no more than 8 years old, ran around her little home, but didn't find her parents. "Papa, mama! I have something to show you!"

While running through the hallway, she noticed that maybe her parents had gone outside the house to gather all the harvesting left uncollected, which made her squeal excitedly as she loved the rain. Still in a little, thin white robe, the little kid swung the front door open and padded outside, the white of her robe contrasting with the reddish, gray bleak field around her.

"Mama, papa?" called she out, starting to get soaked. Her locks were being pinned down, milky skin dripping with heaven's tears. "Mama! Papa! Where are you? I have this to show you!"

She looked ahead, and found nothing. There was nothing around her house besides torn trees and muddy soil soaking her little feet. She looked down her feet and, hey, there were her parents! "Mama, wake up! You are going to get a big cold if you…"

There was a pool of red liquid around her sleeping mother. The child's canvas fell down with a clap of thunder as the downpour puller her hair even flatter. She stared at her mom's unmoving figure, unblinking, as her hands trembled in slow, cold realization that broke her fragile mind in twain and her heart– oh, her pure heart, it plummeted to the ground.

Her eyes didn't take long to catch a glimpse of her father's hand, also marred in blood. Her irises trembled at the ground. "Mama… papa…?"

She didn't know how long she stayed in that position, head hung low as tears rolled down her round cheeks with ease, not letting out a single sob once. She had cried countless times when younger, but now… she couldn't find her voice.

Steps came pitter-pattering behind her. "Don't cry, my child."

A big, clawed hand ruffled her hair affectionately. The little girl didn't speak a word.

"You have a family, now." and the rain fell on.

* * *

Uraraka's sleep didn't come easy for her, and when it did, it only came to torment her. Dreams and nightmares had tangled themselves together, making her dive into a colorless world of black hues, white lines and the soothing sound of a river nearby, leaves rustling and the eerie feeling of being in constant danger. Then, sometimes, she's hear a far-off voice, screaming. The vocal chords would feel familiar, yet unknown and also chappesd, as if strained and forced out of nature.

The sorcerer wasn't sure about anything, where the ground was or where the sun shone that morning, awaken like a mess with all blankets tangled between her legs. After her last encounter with Bakugou, sleep hadn't come easy for her. And when she had finally managed to swim in the peaceful waters of resting, a thunderstorm had howled high above her.

The day had shone undeniably bright despite her foul wake. Her hairs were a mess, hands fisted on the blankets as Edgar slept on the window. Uraraka blinked at the clear sky from behind the window, and she yawned tiredly. Turns out she had slept in that morning, as she hadn't been there to even say goodbye to the guild members, who judging Jack's words the day before, had gone again to that volcano expedition.

The sorcerer was pretty sure the same committee that had come to her the day before had come this day as well, but giving it too much thought would only dishearten her. So she slapped her chubby cheeks to ginger up, then remember the untreated burn on her finger and all sore muscles at her back and shoulder and moaned in pain. Shuzenji sure was going to let them heal on their own.

Uraraka padded to the window and opened it to let a fresh whoosh of air in, the breeze rustling the blankets and brushing away some strands of her hair with gentleness, and she sighed. Edgar stirred a bit in his place, and its owner caressed the back of his neck with care, making the little beast growl lowly. The brunette giggled and looked ahead. The guild was surrounded with other buildings, greenery and rivers, mountains, and general natural fullness. The very same forest where she had woken looked as tranquil as ever, sun up high in the sky as birds chirped to life.

Ah, that was life. Edgar finally got his ass off the windowsill and nuzzled his owner awake, who had started to doze off under the sun. He was careful to not brush the bandaged wound on her cheek. "Oh, such a meanie, Edgar."

She giggled a bit and scratched under his beak, a little place she knew he'd enjoy, then patted him on the head. Her eyes still remained in the forest, a place full of mysteries and beasts tha could make one's bravery darken underneath the brightest of sunlights. The feeling was bitter, a bit odd and dangerously vibrating. Uraraka slapped her cheeks awake again and took Edgar inside.

"Guess what, Edgar?" the eagle titled its head, as if questioning. "We're going dungeon hunting today!"

Turns out that finding dungeons in such a vast forest was no easy task. The moment Uraraka had stepped in, no map in hand and the most adorable poker face on, sun had glared harder on her overwhelmed form. The forest had looked terrifying underneath the crooked moonlight and pouring rain, peaceful and kind when coveted in sun and birds– but holy hot butterflies the place looked enormous, unkind, devouring, and just too deep. Somehow, proportions hadn't occurred to her when she decided to embark in such unnecessary time killer.

This was not a time killer. It was sorcerer eater.

Uraraka still marched as precariously as possible along the wilderness, trying to find a clearing from which to emerge and see how far in she was. Greenery escalated to the heights around her, ground fertile and alive with little worms, butterflies and bees– lots of them. Uraraka had no lotion for her skin to apply and avoid stinging insects, but she'd manage. She carefully stepped over trunks that would sure make good traps for escaping plans, skipped little rivers, smashed some little harmless disgusting animals with her staff.

All be said, she was managing. No high level monsters had come to crash her party and the sun wasn't too hard on her. The tree's shadows were casted on her petite form, her face shadowed by her pink hat and mahogany locks. Uraraka passed by wasted campfire logs, her eyes briefly regarding them. "Hunters?" she kicked the burnt bonfire a bit to get rid of the ashes, staining her boots. "What a handful."

And searching for dungeons was even worse than what she had expected, again. Dungeons were usually located in caves, mossy undergrounds or abandoned big shrines. She hadn't seen any opening in her path that could lead towards a deep cavern, or even stone ruins of a forgotten temple. This forest was full of wilderness, but it lacked dungeons to plunge – or it seemed that way, at least. People may have already exploited the guts of these woods if it was as ancient as it seemed – concluded Uraraka, her ears picking no sound other than leaves rustling and birds chirping.

The girl came across several discarded items around the forest as she walked by. There was a bag full of potions, which Uraraka took despite not being a robber and feeling immediately guilty afterwards, since they would help her as she travelled around the woods. There was also a whip laying around, a double edged little knife – which she stole, again, with no intention of being sneaky. Uraraka also found some archer armors, which didn't suit her as she was too tiny to even fill half of the plate. Seeing so many items lost in her path set off her alarms, illegal hunters could be strolling in the forest without her noticing.

Edgar, who had been sitting on her shoulder all along, was prompted to stand on her index. "Go find some bad guys for mom, little boy." and she pushed him up, watching Edgar part towards the sky. Edgar was a little bit of a mystery to her; while she couldn't remember a single thing about her past, that eagle was almost like a prosthetic part of her, as if he was just a part of her heart that had been there all along– much like her name, magic expertise, and now her taming skills.

She sighed while grasping her staff tight to her. Her memories were gone, but she at least preserved her sanity. Well, Bakugou was sure doing a good job to make sure not even that part of her was alive, but she'd thrive under his iron fist and show him who she really was, and make him realize she was worth joining his guild! Despite not really wanting to join!

But then she looked at the sky, half searching for any trace of Edgar and also contemplating the thought. "Join… the guild?"

The thought hadn't even crossed her mind lately when she should have given it some thought– just a second after truth smacked her in the face, as Bakugou would never accept her request to join if she so desired after the prior night, so she sighed again and continued walking. "What a troublesome king."

Flashbacks came tumbling on her sensitive mind, vividly remembering how his knit eyebrows had glared down on her, like she was disgrace, or the incandescent red of his irises and how small they had gotten as their bickering got more heated, less unilateral, and the fire in her stomach burnt ten times higher when she remembered that she was supposed to hate that bastard, but her heart wouldn't comprehend that hoping psychos to go sane was a bit of a high illusion. A little breeze of air alerted her–

She heard a noise, a rustle, a shift in the air around her. Her train of thought stopped as movement came from her right, and she rushed to the very same source with her staff ready. A pair of wolves were sniffing and growling around the entrance to– that was a dungeon. The fact that they were sniffling around there for food made many alarms go off inside her head, making her wonder how many human or animal corpses could have been thrown there to call their attention– oh, then they turned around, eyes pitch black as the darkest of abysses.

That was a real red sign.

Uraraka was a sorcerer– a brave one, at that, but wolves were an unreadable, fierce. She was suddenly washed with an image of a bloodied Bakugou, glaring at her, and the wolves started growling at her. She didn't really desire to hurt any forest inhabitant, but she'd have to take their insides out if they dared to touch a single hair of her body. Uraraka was a big girl. She could handle herself.

And when they came at her, paws running all the way to her with jaws leaking spit, eyes gleaming and fur feeling rougher and dirtier the nearer they got– Uraraka just snapped, and prepared her staff with a powerful shockwave, enough to knock them away–

A barrier of fire between the sorcerer and the beasts made them stop their chase and retreat in hear of the scorching flames, and Uraraka looked at the one behind such save. There was this young, tall man with ice white hair– he turned, then half of it was red, eyes also varied in color. He wore a deep blue vest and a sword by his side, blinking at her in silent admiration.

Uraraka was quick to react, not even thinking twice about her words. "First, who are you? And I could have handled myself very well, thank you very much!"

The boy coughed, and she could already tell that his voice would be rich, oniric, like hazelnut cream and the best of mints, vibrant like a rose's color. "I'm Todoroki, member of Yuuei. I feared for your shoulder injuries," he pointed at her shoulder, which she eyed now with wonder. "and preferred to intervene before you acted recklessly."

Then, Uraraka blinked at him while stretching her injured arm. "A Yuuei member." she mused over his royal figure and how he was ever so pale, no scars marring his skins like many people from the very same guild. "And may I ask why you are here?"

Todoroki approached her, and his polished, silver sword shone to the light of the sun. It almost blinded her, as if the world was trying to prove her that this man was no commoner and should be feared despite his fragile skin and his hands– they were so thin and elegant, she noticed, and his eyes were peaceful, yet undeniably cold. "Bakugou and Midoriya assigned me to stay with you in case there was anything you needed. Bakugou also told me to express his opposition to the idea with this."

The knight punched her stomach hard, yet he clearly had held in some strength as he was no douche like Bakugou fucking was. Still, Uraraka clutched her abdomen in annoyance and pain, looking at Todoroki with squinted eyes. "That guy…" it didn't take long for her to recompose herself. "He's still not over it, huh."

"It's Bakugou we're talking about." there was some kind of exhaustion in his voice, yet it was so subtle it could very well be feigned. "I would have rather not punched you, but I don't back down on promises or orders from a leader. I don't have much against you, though. Yaoyorozu has told me lots about you."

Uraraka started messing with the back of her hair, making him raise an eyebrow in surprise and slight concern. She chuckled nervously, eyes looking aside. "I've only been here for a day, there's not much to know about me that I don't know myself…" then, her eyes lit up and her smile was genuine this time, shining with glee and realization. "Thanks for the save back there, too. My shoulder would have suffered a bit after that spell."

Todoroki nodded in acknowledgement and turned to make his way forward, expecting Uraraka to follow in tow– which she did. "It's fine. Just refrain from risking your injuries too much. Midoriya made me swear on your safety."

Ah, that boy. Uraraka blushed a bit and her heart warmed at the boy's concern, then decided she'd have a talk about her safety with him when they came back from their mission. Her eyes travelled from his back to his sword, tingling with his steps against his belt. "Oh! I forgot to ask. How did you do that fire barrier?"

The boy enveloped his hands in embers, and for the sake of imitation and curiosity, she did the same. "It's a part of my ability. However, I do know some basic sorcery – but my knowledge sure isn't as large as yours." and he walked on, leaving her behind. In a state of wonder, she held the flame on for too long, and it ended up blistering her hand with an angry hiss. She growled and shook her hand around, blowing some air onto the skin without making Todoroki notice. "Let's get going. We must get back before noon."

Then, they were out of the forest, in the very same point where she began– and it had only taken them a pair of minutes. This provoked Uraraka to scream indignatedly, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "What the hell!? Didn't I make it further into the woods than this?"

All she could think about was that she had spent two hours walking in probable circles, encountering rookie elements that probably belonged to campers settled down there for the night, considering that the outskirts were beast-free areas and relatively peaceful, as much as she had seen that far. Todoroki quipped in. "You were pretty easy to follow, since you didn't move too much. Should have been more careful about that."

She felt shame wash all over her. It was true that an illegal hunter could have come to attack her while she was handling the wolves, or had herself sold hard with such little intuition and guard. The woods were not the most dangerous of places, but they weren't war-free, either.

Before she could apologize, a tall, blonde man with bright blonde beard came running towards Todoroki, emergency clear in his eyes. Uraraka could see it the second he came into view– and judging by Todoroki's startled run, he realized this too. "Yamada, what's wrong?"

The man didn't even spare a second, frown plastered on his face. "Boy, Speedy came running super fast to the Council and told us to fetch some help– but he advised us to look for you and… this cutie right here, which I assume must be Uraraka?"

Both nodded, even though Uraraka was slightly startled by the compliment. Still, urgency throbbed in Todoroki's voice. "You mean Iida? What happened!? Are my guild mates alright?"

Guild mates. Despite his cold glances and his curt responses, it was clear that Todoroki cared about his peers as much as Jack, Kaminari and Kirishima would. The warmth in his voice, the tremble of the vowels, how his hands were shaking in anticipation and the crack in his words. It was all so palpable, how he was handling the news and how warm and just plain endearing his care was. It reminded her of how the others had treated her, made her feel giddy inside– and Uraraka wondered, was that what it felt like to have a place to belong to?

Her surroundings faded away, Bakugou's words sunk in further and deeper to the core of her being, revibrated, and made her feel out of place, more so than before. Was she even allowed, as a foreigner and a potential universal hazard, to want to feel that warmth every day? The feeling ran electric in her head, rattling non-stop until she heard Todoroki speak again.

"They have been ambushed!?" his words cut straight through Uraraka, who raised her head to meet his twitching shoulders. "What even–"

"Calm down, prince. They are mostly fine." rushed in Yamada, and it made both teens relax a little. The blonde man had to break it again though. "But they have been basically cornered in front of Magma Volcano, with a pretty big monster blocking their way to Frost Way. Iida was able to escape and rush here, but he was terrifyingly wounded as well. I fear of Mina and Hagakure, but I don't think they are in such great risk."

Uraraka was quick to retort, her staff clutched tighter in preoccupation. "It still matters!" Todoroki let the words die in his throat to look at her. "Great risk or not, they are in danger, right? We must help them!"

Todoroki nodded and put a hand on her trembling shoulders. Images of Jack, Mina, Kirishima, Kaminari– all of them being wounded in battle, scattered across a field of undug graves, all bleeding, dying– her hands were trembling, the feeling of unshed blood streaming down her hands all but invisible to her. Still, Uraraka breathed in deep and straightened her back, a decided glint in her eyes, but it was wavering against the tides of possibility– no matter the change in the outside, her turmoil remained unchanged. Sensing her worry, Todoroki hummed in thought and looked at Yamada after letting out a whistle.

There was clopping in the distance. "Thanks for warning us, Yamada. We'll rush over immediately."

The man crossed his arms and nodded, looking at them as gravely as Todoroki was doing to him, a grim expression curling his lips upside down. "Be careful, kids. Pull a leg, out there."

A white horse ran to their side in two seconds, one that Uraraka had no patience to pet or woo because her protectors were in danger, and they couldn't stand there without doing anything. Todoroki eased her onto the horse and he grasped the bridles while Uraraka wrapped her arms around him. "Please, take care of Iida in our absence and give him our sincerest thanks!" exclaimed Todoroki while his horse turned, and Uraraka nodded in repetition. "We will be back as soon as possible. If we don't make it back before midnight, please send the Council over!"

Todoroki whipped the bridles and the white, pure and strong horse started its race against the wind, with Uraraka embracing the knight for dear life. They passed trees, houses, a farm, and when the village was out of sight, the rider was quick to reassure her of her fears.

"They will be alright." he said, tense. Her worry didn't falter in any degree, nor did his. "I joined Yuuei for a reason. Trust me, they are too strong to give in to petty zone bosses."

She nodded, but decided to speak out her thoughts– it wasn't wise to ignore them anymore. "You guys have been protecting me, giving me your trust and refuge." her arms tightened, and Todoroki felt this. "I need to help them as much as I can."

The boy chuckled before her, and the sound bounced on his ribcage and under her ears. It made her feel a bit better, even if it was the slightest bit. "With such words," he took his time to continue, rolling the words around his mouth. "you're making me regret the punch from before."

Uraraka giggled a little bit, the gesture not reaching her eyes– they were still as dull and swarming with worry as before, but the feeling was being pinned down in favor of rectitude and bravery. She needed to be sane, collected, and strong, because they needed her help and damn straight, she'd head right into hell as a payback for their help. She frowned and clutched Todoroki's vest a bit tighter, and the boy increased the pace of the ride with an impatience that didn't seem to suit him.

A stretch was hear in the distance above her, and Edgar came diving into the air to fly beside them. Uraraka's eyes twinkled in momentary glee. "Edgar, there you are!"

The pet let out another growl in response, and Todoroki looked at him for a second in surprise before focusing on the road ahead. That girl sure was full of surprises– mused he, silent. The girl beckoned the pet to her proximity. "Edgar, fly a bit ahead and warn us of any enemies in our way!"

She gestured him with her head to go ahead, and the little beast raised to the sun to then fade away in the distance, quick to her command. Todoroki seemed unaffected by the display. "You sure know your business with eagles. Good for you."

Uraraka checked to see if there were any enemies behind them, and was glad to find the path empty. She nodded her response and looked ahead with the knight, both with their hearts hanging an inch above the lava and hoping for a good, lucky rope to come and take them out of that hellish feeling that was worry, trepidation, and unsettling expectations.

* * *

When Uraraka and Todoroki reached the mountainous barrier, they were met with a heat wave that swayed its way to their hearts, spitting on the bravery of their faces and cornering all determination left in their strained souls to a little place that was at the verge of non-existence. Clous hovered in the ashen sky, the volcano was starting to dangerously let out gas – or that's what Todoroki could tell this far.

In a corner of the entrance to the field were the volcano was, Uraraka spotted scrambled, red clothing bunched and dirty. She bent over while Todoroki left his horse in a safe place, and touched it. Bakugou's cape must it be, since such red could only match the blood hell of his livid eyes. She fisted the fabric tightly and silently, albeit almost regretfully, prayed for him to be ok.

Todorki had taken his vest off, and stood only in his shirt. "This is a protected path to the Frost Way, a volcano stands in its midst– well, it's not a volcano, more like a crater, reason why it's protected with barriers. Once we cross this threshold, there's no way back." he eyed her warily. Her eyes were set on the door as if she'd burn it with her sole eyes, grim expression of anxiety that he sure wore with more subtlety. "Are you sure you want to go in with the injuries you–"

"Of course!" spat she, turning to him, and stepping forward. Her staff was scraping the ground it touched, making Todoroki shiver with doubt and sudden worry for that stubborn sorcerer. Somehow… despite having only met her, after such good praise from his peers, he could only go with the flow. "Do open this door, they need our help!"

The knight looked at her for the last time and gulped. Afterwads, he drew his thin sword– and despite its small width, Uraraka felt its strength a meter away from its sharp edges. "Right."

Todoroki kicked the doors open and rushed into the dark hallway that went underneath the walls of the field, and heard her steps struggling to keep pace behind him. She was injured and tired, but she was a tough cookie, he could tell. Todoroki still feared for her safety– he had seen her wounds when Bakugou had carried her to the healing wing, and they weren't exactly childish scrapes. Still, she was being weak, but a fighter nonetheless. He'd be on her side for that fact.

A minute later, they were met with another big door, and loud ruckus was heard from inside. Under the gleam of fire torches– all too familiar to Uraraka, yet so precarious and uncomfortable for her. Not seeing what was behind the doors, no matter the severity of the warzone outside, and not being able to help their friends – they nodded at each other and collectively kicked the doors open.

They were met with a too vivid picture, yet the sounds arrived too late for their catching up minds. The volcano was letting out the ashes Todoroki had predicted with the passion Uraraka had seen coming, but what they hadn't expected was to see that unnamable monster roaring at its top, Bakugou dangling from the edge of the crater and as Uraraka squinted, she was alarmed to see him limping there, probably unconscious. She noticed his sword thrown near–

She almost screamed, and rushed to her peers. Her face was constricted in a painful grimace of fear. The rocks scratched the soles of her boots, heat molding against her skin and ashes making her eyes feel sore, tired and stingy– yet her run didn't falter, all she was able to see being Kirishima laying on a rock with Tokoyami by his side. She quickly knelt by their side, and Todoroki reacted quickly. They tried not to be noticed by the enemy as other guild mates distracted the monster.

"What the–" the sorcerer started to rummage through her bag and found the greenish item. "Uraraka, what are… you…?"

The girl lifted his chin and the boy took the hint and opened his mouth, lips parted as she eased the potion into his mouth. "Iida arrived in time to warn us about… whatever that is on top of the volcano. We hurried here immediately."

Tokoyami coughed, clutching his ribs in pain. From the corner of his injected eyes, he saw Uraraka give Todoroki a pair of potions and instruct him to heal the bird boy with them. His heart softened a bit for her, but his words didn't. "There's nothing you guys can do." spoke he, and Todoroki rushed to give him the same green healing treatment. "That monster… it's unvulnerable to physical attacks."

Uraraka got up and tried to see the enemy from that far. From her view, he looked like a sphere-based monster. He was surrounded by balls of fire, making all kinds of terrifyingly loud noises that could easily deafen his foes. The enemy let out in that very second a deafening scream of menace, and made everyone cover their ears, flinching until their frown touched the ground and teeth bit deep into their lips. Some sand blew around them as a tremble echoed deep beneath the surface. It came from deep within the volcano.

"Can you see him?"

A strong wheeze of wind came towards him, and Uraraka deflected it with a swing of her staff. "Yeah, and heard that too."

After sighing rapidly to make a plan, she was on her knees again, curing Tokoyami as fast as possible. "Todoroki, head to the offense line, we need time."

"I already said it's impossible." spat the one being healed, staring at her through narrowed eyes. "The volcano will erupt in minutes. Everyone should get out of here."

Uraraka went on healing him despite his words, but reacted to the inwardly. Her eyes grew concerned the more minutes that passed. "But that monster…"

"It won't die." coughed Kirishima. "But it will be deep in rubble for the… time we have our asses out." Todoroki offered another cura, but he rejected it by showing his closing wound. "We still have time to go up there, fetch Bakugou's sorry ass and get the hell out of here."

But everyone knew the real problem with this sorting out, but nobody dared to speak out excepting Todoroki.

"That's bread for today and hunger for tomorrow." grunted he, aiming with his sword. "Take care of them, Uraraka."

And the boy went off with his sword enveloped in flames, ready to take him out. The sorcerer was completely aware of the fact that his strikes wouldn't work, no matter their nature. Abilities didn't seem to be used often as far as she was seeing, which meant that everyone lacked enough control to effectively use it against the enemy. Everyone… excepting her.

"Don't fucking dare."

She looked up from her patient's arm to look at Kirishima, who was glaring her in a dangerous way. "What do you–"

"I've seen that look, somewhere before." stated he, plainly. His fingers curled around the gravel. "No way you're going off there, round-face. Bakugou did too much of a number on you, no way."

There was a silent blanket of clothing rustling, the obvious sounds of people being hurt and the quickening quakes of the ground coming in and out of their ears as they focused on Uraraka, who stared intently at Tokoyami's cure while patting some ointment on Kirishima.

"…but you got a plan, don't you?"

Again, silence. The brunette knew better than to answer straight away by how defensive they had gotten over losing a life over reckless actions– above all if it was a good asset that had been hurt by their leader and was going to hurt herself unreasonably. However, it now seemed like she was too focused on nothing, her eyes blank while many red thoughts rattled behind her irises. And Tokoyami saw it too well.

She coughed, guilty. "I do." she faced them decisively, this time. "It may not work… but you know I have to."

Uraraka left some containers full of various liquids in front of them, and addressed their functions briefly before throwing her hat away along with her bag. She grabbed tighter onto her staff, and her hands suddenly weighed tons, feeling upcoming rain above her daring to break down the moment she stepped on the wrong stone. Kirishima regarded her, eyebrows knit in confusion.

"Why are you even doing this?" she didn't answer, instead focused on her path to the volcano. "We aren't your family, you have no reason to trust us not to kill you after this! And risking your life so stupidly…"

Uraraka shook, because those words had startled her more than they should have and yes, it was true that she had no reason to trust them after whatever that happened next– except that she kinda did have an answer to that. "You guys took me in and gave me a bed, food, and warmth that I had never felt before– it's as if I had never lived before this. Because you gave me a present to live," she looked at them, confidence quivering yet her smile stood there, unstoppable in front of the flames. "I'll be risking my future. Wait for me to come back, though. I ain't a weakling."

And Uraraka rushed forward, rocks of fire flying down and threatening to smash her to pieces the moment the flames licked her skin too hard. Her eyes came into contact with the beast atop of the volcano, where Bakugou lay as well. She ignored the blood running down his arms and thought. The beast was surrounded by flames, so it was obvious that trying to throw physical objects at him was useless for either the attacker or the item used in it. The only way to make the monster be harmless to touch was by reducing his flames to something harmless– but obviously no one here could do that, since there were no sorcerers around other than her.

Which made her think, that again, she needed somewhere to reach the monster. Her eyes escalated the way towards the volcano in haste– Uraraka swung a meteorite to pieces with a power strike, lightning and wind smashing the hassle down. How dare he, try to kiss her with force when all she needed now was to get as close to the volcano as possible. Her boots cracked the ground behind her, and she had to skip some fallen goodies so they wouldn't halter her run.

At the battle front, things looked rough, but after a quick sweep, she decided against standing around any longer.

"EVERYONE!" yelled she, at the top of her lungs in the midst of a rock shower and her chords choking in the ashen air. She coughed out, and people looked at her while aiming at the monster with desperate moves. People were bleeding; some had broken limbs that had been healed improperly. None of their tactics mattered anymore if they weren't effective. Her staff pounded the ground, creating a big horizontal divide from which a barrier of spikes emerged– they all retreated to look at her.

"Get away from here, and go help the wounded!"

"But Uraraka–"

"I have a plan, Midoriya!" Uraraka removed her gloves and knelt on the ground once again, touching the ground with gentleness and focus. "Please, trust me this once! You guys are too injured to do this, no way you guys are straining your limbs!"

Jack ran– more like crawled to her side, observing her weird display with caring eyes. Her arms were full of cuts, an eye was swollen and Uraraka swore that if she had the time and stamina, she'd cure her and then knock her out of life for being so reckless in battle. "But your shoulder–"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY SHOULDER!" a circle of light surrounded Uraraka, making people retreat a bit further. The fierceness of her eyes gave out a clear message: she got their backs. "I'll be fine, please do leave this to me!"

Jack eyes her once again, clutching her neck for some clearness on her friend's plan. Still, Uraraka didn't even flinch, her eyes glaring at the volcano and her teeth clenched in a fashion that was familiar to her, maybe because it was dangerously similar to Bakugou. She sighed and turned to her dumbstruck allies, who were struggling to dodge the falling rocks. "Midoriya, let's evacuate everyone out of here."

"Jack, we can't leave her to do this!"

"I trust her, Kaminari!" screamed she, hoisting Asui on her back and indicating the boy to do the same with Mina. Todoroki had long run away with Yaoyorozu in his arms, trusting Uraraka but being afraid of her plan not working. Everyone feared putting their trust on her. "Guys, trust her, and let her be!"

There was a second, then two. The roar of the monster clapped above the crew, but Uraraka was too focused on magic to even notice. There was another deep rumble beneath their feet, but it sounded even nearer than ever before. This Uraraka felt, as her posture tightened. Everyone nodded at her, muttered an apology and a word of thanks, scrambling to find a secure place.

Uraraka had felt the quake and grown worried. The eruption would occur soon, and the beast would be buried beneath rubble– but they would be buried too. There was no way she'd let that happen, she couldn't fail!

Her power flowed on her hands, making her limbs, abdomen and head feel weaker than she should. Her shoulder healing was draining stamina away from her, which meant that the damage from this trick would be enormous. Still, there was no way she'd let this opportunity slip. Her fingers tangled together, focusing her final breaths into this attack. Blood rushed to her fingertips, crackling with energy and power, the numbness closing in as a heavy burden of weakness fell on her like an avalanche.

Still…– she couldn't hear screams of pain, anymore – she'd do it.

Even if she died in the process.

Her hands took the staff gingerly to only smash it on the ground, the power tha had been briefly held in scattering deep beneath the ground underneath her feet, under the volcano, deep beneath were demons lived– and she felt it. The ground under the territory shook violently, creating a massive earthquake that made the monster wiggle, then scream above what could be tolerable– but Uraraka felt nothing but the scorching feeling of her magic being drained out of her, and all her energy starting to make the world shake in her grasp.

Bakugou luckily woke at this violent rumble, and before he could start screaming at her to stop making things go mambo, she was quick to shut him up. "Bakugou, GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!"

There was another quake that had everyone screaming. The walls of the crater started to be torn down, crumbling to pieces both outside and inside the volcano. The monster angrily threw fireballs at her, but they only arrived as pebbles as air grew humidor, denser, and the grounds beneath her started to rise up against. The angry leader could only stare in wonder. "What the fuck are you–!"

A deaf noise interrupted him, and Uraraka screamed at the top of her lungs as blood dripped from her closed wounds and nose. There was a crash, thunder meeting thunder, and another weak rumble that had everyone holding their breaths. This was it, and the sorcerer licked her lips in anticipation. This was either a big loss or a monumental success, heat against–

And a second later, the volcano erupted– but instead of lava like everyone was fearing, water sprouted from the creaks of the volcano. Bakugou tumbled and held onto a creak as the makeshift tsunami devastated everything around them, streaming from the crater as it successfully reduced the monster to clay, cleansed the ashen air around them and flooded the whole territory surrounded by barriers. The water tornado knocked Uraraka out of reach as she willingly let herself be flown out of scene, blood tainting its little ripples as the fire eruption had been replaced with underground rivers.

The water waves were scorching hot, and they came in high waves that approached the resting warriors like a soft blanket of rolling bubbles and silence– all was enveloped in white noise as the rocks crashed, cracked, and everything was reduced to dust. The waters made everyone hit the barriers surrounding the volcano with muted hisses of pain, but they were overjoyed to see that the trick had worked.

But.

When the water leaked through the gates, all of them made a meek attempt to stand up, wounds steaming from the hot water, but horrified to see that the monster wasn't moving and menacing, but it was still very alive. Uraraka, once the way was clear, made an attempt to walk forward– she had protected the guild, helped defeat a menace. She hadn't expected her makeshift barriers to break under the unexpectedly strong push of water, but it was a success no matter the standpoint.

People gawked at her as she stood on her staff, hat crooked. They reached the same conclusion: sorcerers were damn dangerous. And Uraraka was cute as hell, but also as deceiving as Bakugou had deemed her to be.

This very same leader crawled his way to the top of the crater and, with a powerful explosion of his hand as a last resort of his energy, made the beast – which had been gripping the rocks – tumble his way into the abyss, never to be seen again. A shadow crosses his face as gripped his twitching hand, and he slid his way to the feet of the volcano with the very same grimace he sported no matter how tired, beaten or bloody he was.

Ashes blew at his feet. His body was marred with scratches, deep bleeding gashes– this blood was caked on his muscles, turning brown and crusting on his biceps, chest, or maybe it was just dirt? She could smell the metallic taste of humanity off him, something husky and sweaty she couldn't bring herself to hate. The same way he couldn't bring himself to kill her off now that she was at her weakest.

She limped on her staff. He limped on his knees. "Why…"

Uraraka chucked, soaked to the bone and cut with the rocks that had been thrown at her before the spell. "Because you gave me a place to belong."

He didn't have any strength to reply to that– his heart screamed to kill her, lungs wishing to breathe the ringtone of her cries, and hands desiring to kill more people other than those silly henchmen he encountered before this mess. His insults and curses dies in his throat, and all he could do was respond as bluntly as possible.

His eyes rolled and all his weight fell down on her, but Uraraka was quick to react by kneeling and catching his whole weight– which was a lot. People behind them watched the scene unfold, mouths agape, bones tense in agitation.

"Fucking Uraraka…" mumbled Bakugou, thoughtless, gripping the skin of her legs with the intention of hurting her. "I loathe you… midget…"

It didn't take much longer for her to collapse into dreamless unconsciousness, too the evening breeze carrying away the dust and ashes. Suddenly, there was no threatening of incoming rain– just a clear sun, watching people rescue a newfound friend.

* * *

When Bakugou woke, he hadn't expected to feel what he felt. Light flashed before his closed lids, breeze coming from a creak on the windows of his bedroom, and a soft blanket was wrapped around his scathed body– he also felt something being tangled on his fingers, and a soft voice coming from a side. It was comforting, like the voice of his mother had once been in his youth. It had always put him into deep black slumber, stars twinkling down his innocent, passionate eyes, red like fresh roses.

The caress of this hand was smooth too, but it felt and smelt like pink roses– it was the color of a sunny sunset with no clouds, no disturbance, just a hand entwined with his as fingers grazed his calloused skin, but hers wasn't scathed, it was caring and harmless, trustworthy, and it felt familiar, warm, cozy… it felt like home.

His eyes fluttered open, and the stars and blowing curtains greeted his wake. "Ah, Bakugou. Good to see you awake!"

His head turned abruptly to find Uraraka fucking fixing his twisted fingers, only to have them snatched away from her comforting touch as soon as he recognized that voice. "What the hell are you–"

Her hand flew to his hand, and he had this inhuman urge to bite it off. "Shut it! People is resting now. Try to not make a fuss over it for now, please?"

He grunted a dismissive curse and let his hand linger over the edge of the mattress, allowing her to grab it again and tend his wounds. It was all sorts of humiliating to let a witch like her see him at his weakest and have her tending his wounds when she had been the one to ultimately save the day– still, he'd humor her this once. Just so she wouldn't force herself too much and people wouldn't come complaining at him because they hurt their savior.

Bakugou sat on the mattress, scratching the back of his head for recollection. He was shirtless, and thank god he wasn't pantless or he'd be kicking that bitch out of the room. "How long have I been here?"

Her answer was sharp, as if prepared beforehand. "Just a few hours. We came back this evening and had quick healing from Shuzenji. My shoulder though–" she swung it a little to show him. "–it's not so good. Turns out I overdid it again."

He watched her shrug it off again– it was driving him insane. How could she be– was she actually fucking whistling over the fact that she almost killed herself for the sake of a people who not only didn't fully approve of her, but also didn't have anything to do with her? Why do such a reckless move when it wasn't worth the shot? Her palms were wrapped in bandages, just like his, and were a bit shaky but gentle all the same– despite having torn her shoulder apart, despite having barked at her to leave and despite dismissing her all the time, she always came back to bite his ass.

He was growing tired of chasing her away. Something had to be wrong with her. "Why the fuck are you so hellbent on making my life miserable, Uraraka?"

Oddly enough, she giggled at him. "I already told you why."

Silence coated, permeated and suck the room into tranquility, something he wasn't used to as he was obliteration, destruction, madness, noise, rumble and ubiquity. But there he had her: messy, yet pretty, peaceful yet feisty, porcelain skin that had demonstrated to be able to make volcanoes go wild and meteorites destroy the Earth. He should be afraid, angry, tearing her limbs off because she was a fucking universal menace, and she had just shown how dangerous she could be when her desire was invested on it.

But all he did was stare. Aggressively.

"I told you to go away."

"I know." she resented.

"I almost killed you."

"I'm aware." pat on her shoulder. "A pain."

"You should be dead." he attacked. Yet this time, she hummed a response while wrapping bandages around his wrist, her touch never burning his skin. "Like, I could fucking behead you with my hammer."

Her touch halted then, and he was damn glad because it was doing all but useful. Look at that mess. It looked like criss-cross fabric. "Would you?"

"Do I seem to be in condition to swing around my things now?" she shook her head, clearly not hesitant to block his attempts to make a conversation so her shenanigans would be less blush-worthy. Instead of trying to distract himself with chatter, he glanced at her as subtly as possible, again.

Her cheeks were dusted with little burns here and there, but that healthy blush of hers was intact. Her eyes were bathed in red stings, lashes low and tired, but her smile was blinding nonetheless. Hands, bandaged hands worked on his skin, and he couldn't believe that those gentle, petite hands of hers held the power to eventually move in time, but for now they could make mountains break. He'd regard it as cool if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't cool, it was fucking amazing.

Misconceived little midget. His teeth clenched, but his eyes bore on her fingers. Bakugou clearly couldn't fight fire with fire, so there was no way he could attack her with force anymore knowing that she could pull that shit off when thrilled enough. And now, those hands were tending his stupid hands. Those silly, reckless hands of hers, and that was the only part of her he actually respected.

He wanted to see those hands every day – he realized, breath not labored, him being the same as always and starting to realize that maybe, he had a reason to keep her around and make every damn ass of his guild happy for once.

"Join the guild."

Her threading work stopped, and he heard her gasp so lowly that he swore he had imagined it, but when he glanced at her eyes, there was no mistake. Still, her face remained unchanged despite the startled tint in her irises. There was a silent question in them, and once her eyes retreated to his hands again, he rushed to explain. "I'd rather have you where we can keep an eye on you. Having you in another fucking guild won't do."

"And why is that?" her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I respect your strength, but as a sorcerer, I should have expected you to be this strong." and she already knew this, but he liked to state it so she wouldn't get ideas he didn't want her to get. "All sorcerers are overly powerful, but you are also a threat. There should be no sorcerers, and I'll make sure you behave while you are here."

"I didn't even say yes."

His eyes glared hard at her. "Come on. You were dying to join us – don't fucking deny it, I can see it in your eyes." she snorted at his attempt to be emotional, to which he responded by being aggressive. "And you'll train with me."

Her hands stopped once again – he sure was being a real softie like Kaminari had once suggested, and her eyebrows disappeared behind her fringe. "Train with you? With King Blasty the Psychopath?"

The fact that he smirked at her remark only made it weirder to her that he took that insult as a compliment. The smirk didn't last long. "We gotta make you learn how to increase you capacity. Having you lose yourself over single opponents in the battlefield won't do anymore. And… I'm gonna make sure you don't even approach any books regarding psychics."

"So you're trusting me."

"Fucking far from it."

She cut the bandage short with her teeth and tucked it under another patch, the moved on to his other hand, all in silence with a pondering smile. "You said you didn't trust me, therefore I'd never join you guys."

His eyes were casted down as he slapped her gentleness away. He rubbed his face up and down with his palms, immediately feeling the pain of open wounds being widened. She rushed to grasp them and, again, he let her be while glancing at his fixed hand. "You told me you could do good, right?" Uraraka looked up, blinking in shock – he had listened to her, this time? "You protected my people, twice. Showed me you were more dangerous than I thought, twice as well. Reason enough to keep you fucking close as swatting you away isn't working, so don't make misleading assumptions."

There was a minute of silence, then two– and Bakugou swore than this was what happened when he opened his shitty mouth, when his force met her gentleness and the fire from his eyes burnt too deep into a person he had decided to trust, and it seemed like his plan had backfired spectacularly as she wasn't speaking, the chatterbox broken–

"I will."

He felt slapped, but when he looked at her smiling – like, purely genuine and big and it got him excited, somehow – it seemed like his plan had worked. It made him smirk in pride because he finally had won over her stubbornness and despite not having taken lives out of it, the moral satisfaction was as intense as a battlefield blood bath. "Is that so?"

"But let's make things clear: only as long as I'm not trashed around for being a sorcerer and I'm respected as a warrior."

He eyed her, lingering in her eyes for way too long, and his brows sunk further in exhasperation. Of course she'd ask for the only think he couldn't give her.

"I just told you I respected your strength." and he was giving in that way. "But there is no way I'm going to let you off the damn hook. Remember all about responsibility and power?"

Uraraka sighed, "Fine…" torn between feeling let down and content with the arrangement. His eyes glared as hard on her as always, and her touch was undeniably soft and caring. He was made to attack, while she was made to resist his tides.

All he could do is wonder how long she'd last until her walls finally gave in. And her hand knitting went on all night, her touch never leaving even after he fell asleep.

* * *

 **[A/N]** : /drops dead to the ground, see I knew this was a bad idea


	2. Chă pter 1

**[A/N]** : /relaxes in a fuckton of pages, I ain't regretting nothin'. It's a bit rushy? somehow? I tried to make it easier to read at the end but

but I was more worried about character developement for this one but... I... don't know anymore D: I'll be on watch for editing as soon as I can get some rest from this and see it with fresh eyes. But hey, thanks to all the nice reviewers who have put faith on this! I am so overwhelmed with joy ; n ;

* * *

Yuuei was a weird place for Uraraka. No insults intended, but the second she had been officially introduced as an official member of the guild, nothing had changed.

In all honesty, she had expected some kind of warm welcoming, a party, or maybe a surprise token? but she didn't get anything. From the most realistic standpoint, she should have expected this– after all, the battle against the rocky fireballs monster had been just a day ago, and people were still tidying the place up of upcoming foes.

The following two days after the battle, the whole guild had been imposed a ban from the council. As the sorcerer would later learn, that basically meant that the whole guild was forbidden to partake in violent events, organize for team battles or even do as much of a rock paper scissors competition. Turns out that the mission against the volcano boss was kind of too high for them, and it somehow made sense to her in the end: only she and Bakugou had been able to do significant damage to that son of a bitch.

When she tried to patiently ask the leader why they had embarked in such a counter-productive battle, he had unkindly explained with not much patience that it was a measure for later journeys, that it needed to be done, and that she shouldn't meddle in business that didn't affect her at all. Then he remembered that he had personally accepted her into the guild and marched off mumbling about her being a pain.

That was when Kirishima came rushing to her with a sheepish expression, and continued the events of the present day. "He's too much of a short-tempered guy, don't mind him."

Uraraka had been going downstairs with her new uniform on, dressed in pink again after being marred in too many bandages after the last battle. Just the thought of the mental strain that the battle had meant brought chills down her spine. "Good to see you in shape, Kirishima. Is he feeling alright?"

If one listened carefully, it was possible to hear Bakugou and Midoriya arguing heatedly inside their office. Both let out a healthy chuckle as the redhead led her down the staircase. "Just Bakugou being Bakugou, no surprise." and the girl seemed unfazed by this, which obviously surprised him. "And you don't seem to have much problem with that."

She shook her head as they arrived to the common room, where some people had lunch between loud chatter and laughter, all tables equipped with a vase full of three sunflowers. It was good to see the guild so alive after such harsh battle, so she couldn't help but smile at her friend, and then curiously glance at the odd choice of flowers. "Once he stops threatening you with his toy knives, he's bearable outside the battlefield. Not like he's near being sane, but I can stop watching my step now. Step by step!"

He affectionately ruffled her hair with a little smile, and she puffed her cheeks in annoyance. Her hair was something extremely hard to deal with, above all with that habit of hers to ruffle it when nervous, anxious, or just plain observed. She threaded her hair back to place under Kirishima's glance. That was when Uraraka noticed that he was noticeably taller than her. Actually, _everyone_ was.

"I'm glad to see that you are still willing to give him a chance. Many people give up the first day when he screams for them to stop invading his privacy." she allowed herself a sigh of exhaustion, remembering how he had been so adamant about her joining but had afterwards offered her a membership in the guild. It showed he was a tough one, but not invincible for that matter. "Oh, talking about people!"

Kirishima swung his arm around Uraraka's shoulders and dragged her to a side, making the people on the tables look at the approaching couple. "Guys, have you met Uraraka yet?"

Of course, Uraraka couldn't recognize a single face, for which she felt incredibly ashamed despite having no reason to, and the feeling of being observed by those analyzing eyes of theirs made go through ten seconds of self-consciousness and awkwardness. There was a blonde guy – he was a bit similar to Kaminari, maybe they were brothers? – another blonde guy, but this one had a much kinder set of eyes and he impregnated his glances with such softness, Uraraka felt instantly relieved. Her eyes travelled down his body to find him clutching his side in concentration.

"Guys, this is Uraraka, the volcano girl!" suddenly, a flash of recognition seemed to flash through their eyes, but it was short lived. Their shoulders went back down, and the very same skepticism returned in a moment. "She's been resting till' now, so be a bit easy on–"

"Wait, you are _that_ girl!?" spoke someone with glee and a girly, excited tone, but Uraraka couldn't see the person. Apart from those blondes, there was nothing else excepting food, the vase with sunflowers, discarded clothes, and gloves on the table–

"Holy shit!" let Uraraka out, rushing to the girl's side, trying to make out her figure through her veil of invisibility. The nearer she got the more clothes she saw that outlined the girl's figure. "You are invisible? How is that possible?"

The three other boys watched the scene unfold, and obviously no one had been this thrilled about invisible girl because they seemed hilariously shocked. The very same girl got up and showed herself to the newcomer. "I was jinxed when I was young by keeping my special ability on forever, until the very day I die."

The soft looking boy glanced at Uraraka with, again, a very kind smile on. "She's constantly travelling in recognition missions with us, she's the stealthy boss of the guild" and no matter how much invisible girl was trying to deny it with flailing arms, the kind boy dismissed her. "You were lucky to find us in our resting day."

Kirishima scratched his head, with an apology at the tip of his tongue. This was the most troubled Uraraka had seen him. "Man, sorry for not even asking about that. It's been crazy here with the ban and fixing the mess after Pyrox." the redhead looked at the brunette, sensing she'd be confused at all this new information. "What part didn't you understand?"

"Pyrox?"

"The guy you basically cooled down back at the volcano."

Uraraka let out an acknowledging hum, and one of the blonde guys, the one with this flickering passionate gaze, dig his elbows on the table. "Such an impressive feat, by the way." the girl was startled by the praise, and he noticed this– and also winked, teasingly. "I'm Aoyama, please don't forget my name like you did with Pyrox, pretty please?"

The invisible girl nudged Aoyama, and if it was possible to tell a pout would sure be present on her face. "Don't tease her, Aoyama!" the gloves waved at her. "I am Hagakure! This is Ojiro."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Uraraka." replied Ojiro, waving at her, and the sorcerer did the same with a little, shy smile. "We've been told about you by others, but seeing you with our own eyes is a bit clashing. You are so tiny."

Kirishima crossed his arms after, again, ruffling the girl's hair. It seemed like some kind of stress reliever. "She's a tough cookie, don't mistake her…"

Uraraka visibly jumped at such defensive remark, eyes twinkling and her hands flying to her heart. Kirishima had said those words with such faith and kindness that something hammered hard in her heart– warmth, tickles and butterflies at the prospect of being respected so much by the leader's right hand. All she could do back that was minimally intelligible was smile. "Where are Sero and Shoji? Haven't they reported back to base yet?"

Hagakure rounded the table to give the redhead a little scroll, all after some messy rummaging in her big cloak. "Sero gave this to me for Midoriya, and told us to meet at our base at Orange Forest." Kirishima unhooked the paper and read the report as quickly and read everything briefly. "They have some successfully gotten into an illegal base, but we must let things work on their own."

The redhead nodded, fingers tapping his chin. Uraraka didn't really bother to follow the topic, as she'd sure not understand this mess. "Have you guys gotten any new information?"

Ojiro shook his head with resignation. "We haven't heard anything from Sero from within the headquarters at the east. Shoji reunited with the others as far as I know up at the north, and we are supposed to meet where Hagakure mentioned."

Kirishima rolled the paper and closed it with the bow, tucking it in his side bag. "I will go tell Bakugou as soon as he stops the bickering with Midoriya."

The room casually fell silent, and a faint sound of crashing and roaring echoed in the distance of the offices. Ojiro laughed, then hissed and clutched his side again. Uraraka flinched and blinked at his poor pose. "Yeah, they sure are–"

The sorcerer was instantly fretting over him, had gone running to the boy and started pouring dewy, morning healing on his side. "I am not the best of healers, but I can help with that!" green lights started to patch the wound beneath Ojiro's clothing, who looked at her with that impossible smile of understanding he seemed to always have. "Please, don't move too much, or my magic may be rendered less useful!"

The blonde boy tried to swat her away as kindly as possible. "I'm overjoyed to see you so worried about it, but Shuzenji already patched this up and told me to–"

"But you clearly are in pain." mumbled Uraraka, squinting for focus– the boy didn't dare to interrupt her, as she looked stubborn as hell and by the look Kirishima was giving him… this was a given. "Besides, she doesn't need to know."

The redhead shook his head with a kind smile, scratching the back of his head with a mysterious glint in his eyes. "Man, and to think that Bakugou thinks you are a threat…" Aoyama looked at him in interest while Ojiro tried to calm Uraraka down. "Not completely harmless as I thought you to be, but man, you are a far cry from a monster."

"But she's still a threat, right?"

Uraraka's healing halted, looking at the other blonde from the corner of her eyes. The passionate boy looked at Kirishima in vehemence and the most light-hearted tones she had ever heard regarding her professional status. "We still don't know what she will do in the future. There's no need to be so laid back about it either, right, Uraraka?"

"Huh!" her back was as straight as a tree, eyeing the suddenly menacing blonde who was looking at her piercingly– and it turns out that convincing everyone that she was trustworthy wouldn't be as easy as to just get into the guild and hope that everyone would trust her. The faith they had put in her during battles, the littlest of trusts that Bakugou was putting on her when allowing her to roam around his peers as much as she wanted– it wasn't enough. It seems like only time would fix this misconception. "Ah, well, I just hope I can make you all trust me, somehow!"

Hagakure pounded Aoyama on the head while Kirishima frowned at him for making his little pal so uneasy, and he was by her side in a heartbeat. "Aoyama, stop being such a creepo."

"Apologies for being cautious, Hagakure." stated he, eyes unblinking as he stared at the brunette. "She's just so tiny, to think she holds such power… it's beyond me."

Kirishima had been apparently rummaging through his bag during the exchange, and Ojiro was up with Aoyama when he cleared his throat. "Anyway, go to Bakugou's office with this scroll, and make him look it up so he can consider your mission concluded and give you some free days. I don't think you guys should be off before Sero and the others report back."

"Roger that!" exclaimed Hagakure, grabbing Aoyama's arm as the passionate boy wrapped himself into more complicated thoughts that Uraraka wasn't very pleased about. That guy seemed harmless a minute ago, why had he shown his fangs at her so quickly? Clearly, everyone was different in that guild, one way or another.

The trio was ascending the staircase in a loud exit the moment Mina came through the main door, her brows rising at the happy group of nerds. "Some people sure have some good breakfast." murmured she before her black eyes were set on Kirishima and Uraraka, a smile shooting up to her round features as soon they looked at her. "Oh, my eyes have been blessed! Good morning, guys!"

Kirishima padded to her with a grin, and Uraraka waved at her while walking less enthusiastically than him. The redhead sure was a goof bear despite his tough exterior. "Good to see you around today, Mina! Any luck at today's practice?"

The pink haired girl sighed, shoulders sinking in disappointment and the sight was so unsettling for Uraraka, somehow. There was something so irritating about seeing such a cheerful girl so sunken– the image was stirring something weirdly terrifying in her, and all the sorcerer wanted to do was hug those droopy eyes away. "It was a bit _meh_. No lucky shots or good preys to catch. Midoriya and barbarian would sure be disappointed with my performance."

And Kirishima's hands came to rest on her deflated shoulders, which perked up at the soothing gesture, and it brought a little smile to Mina's face as soon as his calloused hands were rubbing her shoulders– and Uraraka didn't know with all certainty, but Kirishima seemed to relax as soon as she was fine again. Light streamed around the pair, making it all look more heavenly to her. It made her heart squeeze comfortable in her chest, and the brunette smiled kindly at the exchange.

Her neck started sweating grossly, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. Sparks of complicity flew and cracked from the pair's fingers, ignited the ground beneath Uraraka and lifted her up in a trip to another world, all the world fading away, her included, and tainting it all it reds and roses, the color of his eyes and the blush of her cheeks. The world seemed simpler, their breaths dancing across pages of her life in blurs of iris, and it all felt familiar and warm to her.

She was suddenly wondering if Midoriya was also like this seeing how soft he was, or if Kaminari could smile like that too, or if Bakugou used to be this endearing before becoming such a beast. Not like she minded, though.

"Take it easy, though." said Kirishima, finally, voice as soft as silk and his eyes bright. However, his brows were a bit furrowed. "I know how you all tend to overdo it when bad days go even worse. I don't want to have you hitting the bed before dinner."

"Ah, I'm going to rest for the rest of the day. I had thought about heading to the alchemist, then go downtown for the Sacred Sanctuary." it sounded like assurance, but Uraraka couldn't find what rest she would do in doing guild chores. All she did was smile with a shake of her head, which prompted Mina to look at her and grin. Everything was alright in the world, suddenly. "Wanna come with, Uraraka? There are some people I think you haven't met yet!"

Before the brunette could even answer, the archer was already dragging her out of the main room until Kirishima stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, can you do me a favor and take this scroll to the Sanctuary? Yagi will sure be happy to see we already have the zone swept for them."

She removed her backpack to open it and put the scroll in. Uraraka could tell with a little glance that this woman was not a commoner archer, as all items she had seemed pretty damn hard to get. The moment the scroll was in, the inventory was closed. "I'll try to be quick. The library at the Sanctuary will be jam-packed with people at evening." her hand was on Uraraka's elbow a second later as Mina waved at Kirishima. The sorcerer was being dragged so ruthlessly that all she could do was hum a farewell to the hunter.

While they walked through the plaza, Uraraka was slapped to reality when a crack on the ground called her attention. That was from when she used the ground spikes against Bakugou – she recalled unwillingly, and her face tensed when memories of the fateful battle swarmed in her brain, swum in her mind and drowned her in a sense of dread and, again, determination to get better the next time she trained with Bakugou.

"Don't get worked up over it!" Mina patted her back as they neared an adjacent building. "Everyone at the alchemist will sure love you to bits!"

Yeah, well, not like that was what was going through her mind at the moment, but that would do. Uraraka nodded and let herself be guided to the alchemist, all troubling thoughts forgotten when her nose came in contact with what could either be an awful medicine or a wonderful poison. However, the room was cozy and warm, divided by a counter that crossed the whole room. There were two tables at the sides and bookshelves with books, flowers, and bottles full of pebbles and devices that were foreign to her.

The windows by the door provided with shedding sunlight onto the floor, making it glow in radiance and this familiar feeling writhed in her heart, a feeling similar to smelling fresh bread, or burying your face in the fluffiest pillow. There was a big cauldron at the end of the room, a bit hidden at the darkened ends of the room, and someone was moving around there.

When Mina closed the door, this very same person came running to them. It was a girl, green hair with big, doe eyes and a neutral, scientific look in her face. Her hair was tied up in a large bun, but was irremediably long no matter how much the girl tried to tie it. She shot a hand up to greet them, polite. "Good morning, Mina. This must be new girl, right?"

The archer hummed in agreement, and wordlessly handed a sheet of paper to her. The girl behind the counter read it slowly, eyes carefully examining the ingredients asked of her, and Uraraka was assured right there that this woman was a skilled professional. "The usual, I see." she searched under the counter to get a seal and mark the sheet. "I'm Asui, by the way. I'm the chief herbalist of this guild, and also main alchemist. It's a pleasure to meet you."

When Asui offered her a hand to shake, Uraraka gingerly corresponded the gesture. "Yes, I have heard of you as well. You must be a valuable member of this guild."

A small, purple dressed man came to Asui's side, face of a kid but clothes of a full-fledged adult. The herbalist gave him the sheet and guided him behind so he'd start working on it. "I am a fighter, as well, but I am specialized on potions and gems. This region is fertile and rich in minerals, so we are always coming up with new improvements."

Uraraka nodded in awe, eyes sparkling at what could mostly be defined as a pure brutal hard worker. Mina nudged her with a mischievous glint in her eyes, but her smile was pure and genuine. "Guess what? She's a sorcerer, too!"

Uraraka was quick to slam her hands on the counter, making the wood shake and papers crumble, and her words came out excited and overwhelmed. Her shoulders were shaking as her chords vibrated in glee. "Y-You are a sorcerer!"

Asui wasn't affected by her happiness, only nodded with a finger to the mouth. "Always been one. It's only natural since I was raised in a lake."

In a lake? – when Uraraka turned to Mina, she only nodded slowly in consideration, then turned to the head alchemist. "She can only use water based magic." Uraraka still seemed clueless, maybe because she hadn't seen Asui's whole non-human complexion. "She's a mutant."

A second passed, then two, and the girl was unresponsive. Before the brunette could flip the counter upside down, Asui chided the archer. "Please, Mina, don't be so blunt, ribbit. Watch how you are talking about the person who makes your daily potions." the pink haired girl shrunk a little, and Uraraka was stunned that such a stale, collected and calm person existed in such unkempt guild. "My family was cursed before my birth during a battle, and had to exile. I am mostly human, but–"

"Asui," the small man came running again. "who is that cutie–"

The alchemist's large tongue slapped the man back to work, and he whimpered back to the cauldron while blood drained from Uraraka's face. Mina didn't mind the little show. "–as you have just witnessed, I have frog-like abilities. I can also blend with the colors of a room, and breathe underwater. However, due to my slim, porous skin, I can't handle fire magic. Other elements just bore me."

"She's a part of the exploration team too, with Hagakure and the others." explained Mina, and Uraraka nodded stiffly, still shocked by Asui's slap. "More than valuable, she's just a mad woman. Midoriya accepted her so fast that Bakugou had no way to deny him. Maybe it was because of her handicap that Bakugou ended up accepting her, but that's beside the point." the archer smirked coyly. "You sure have been spending time with Midoriya ever since, right?"

The ever so phlegmatic girl, who had been blinking at them without a trace of emotion exploded into a small blush, cheeks dusted in pink. "He makes for a good companion when days are rainy. You will have time to talk with him as soon as the ban is over, I'm sure."

"That will make tomorrow much easier for Bakugou." commented Mina airily, hand on her waist as a hand racked behind her mane of pink locks. "He can't handle being still and idle for more than an hour, let alone another day. That guy…"

"Give him a rest, Mina." surprisingly, it was Uraraka who said that, a comprehensive smile gracing the view. "After all, we made a favor to the Council by defeating Pyrox. I can understand why he's so annoyed with this situation."

"It's so weird to think that you are that girl who stood her ground against him. I was told all about it, and it's a shame I wasn't there to see the spectacle you made at Magma Volcano." Uraraka was torn between feeling a bit offended and blushing for the compliment– but look, everyone had regarded her as tiny, but still a powerhouse, so she couldn't complain, really. "I still reckon you have tons to learn, yes?"

"Now that I think about it," Mina scratched her cheek – Uraraka noticed that she had a minor scar there – and looked at her newest friend. "I heard that you and Bakugou would be training, yes?"

Uraraka jumped at what had been presented to her as a secret, but seemed to have spread like wildfire. "Oh, do you have a knack for masochism, ribbit?" she jumped again. "You have such pretty skin, what a pity."

The brunette knew she shouldn't be as spooked as she was, but her peers' behavior was frightening. The idea that they had of her sparring sure sounded different than what Uraraka thought. Asui and Mina were probably used to the barbarian they had as a leader and they were most likely disregarding him out of habit, thinking it would be just Bakugou being Bakugou– except it wasn't. That man could kill her if he so desired, so nobody should be so aloof about such a threat.

"Hold on, it's not a matter to be taken lightly!" exclaimed the sorcerer, hat dancing as her head shook in denial. "This is not going to be a walk down the forest! He is a mad monster with nothing else to offer but pain."

"But that's what you want from him either way, right?"

That made both archer and sorcerer look at the alchemist, who was neatly noting things down on a sheet of paper. "I mean, you can't really ask for much more other than that. Bakugou isn't going to change much no matter how much you try to hammer him into shape. He works in another more complicated way."

Mina blinked at her for a second before glancing at Uraraka pensively. "She's right on that. You are going to spend some more time with Bakugou as long as he trains with you– which he kinda actually ordered you to, right?"

Something clapped inside of her, as if her heart had orbited out of existence and all she had left was the thunder hammering of her heart against her chest, but it echoed out of her, as if it had ran a mile and was hanging on the hands of another person– another man. He had clutched her heart in commitment, punishment and obliteration, condemning her to a life full of wounds and interrupted healing. Somehow, her eyes would never heal from seeing him survive a meteor shower– but she'd cope and learn how to go against him.

Yes, that feeling of dread everytime the thought of sparring with him– it was so vibrant now, because he had directly given her the directions to walk, every single day, into a death flag. She was overcome with the same feeling of being thrown into a black hole with a blindfold, unconscious, and waiting for the fall to bend her broken.

"Well, yeah." gulp. "He _did_ say he'd impose his training schedules on me, which doesn't come as much of a surprise, but still…" her hands reached out for her neck to mess with, but Mina held her wrists down with a pout. "… not gonna lie, he may be easier to deal with now in terms of speaking, but a one-on-one sounds like a bigger deal."

"That's what he wants you to feel." butted in Mina again, planting herself in front of Uraraka. "He plays a lot with psychology, but gives himself away with the little details. When he called you roundface, he was mentally integrating you with the rest of us. I'm alien girl," Mina pointed at Asui with her thumb, grinning. "she's frog girl, but he respects us all the same. And the fact that he privately accepted you into the guild… he does respect you as a fighter."

Somehow, the thought of Bakugou actively respecting her sent her heart into an override of confusing feelings, namely throbbing anxiety and crippling warmth that was so sketchy and edgy, all sticking to her lungs and constricting them in a deathly hazard of suffocation, because heat was issuing from her nonblushing cheeks and god forbid her from blushing at the mention of something as common ground – or at least, _should_ be common ground – as respect.

"But you still are a universal threat."

"Yes!" agreed Mina, and Uraraka deflated considerably, the high from the fantasy popping like a balloon. "You are still dangerous, and while most of us are open to trusting you, he will either never open up, or it will take a while. Asui was handicapped, but you sure are _not_." insert humorless giggle and a blink from the herbalist. "See him as a toy, as a tool, get all you need to from him, and then quietly leave."

"Does that mean I'd never make him be at least friendly or civil with me?" her tone was desperate, graver than intended, but reflected the worry she had intended to show.

Asui and Mina shared an unintelligible message that Uraraka knew to be a thing in this guild– man, it made her feel so out of context. Asui spoke up. "Kirishima made it happen, so I don't see why you wouldn't– but you are a sorcerer. So skipping the profession barrier is a tough thing to accomplish."

"You guys shouldn't brainwash her like that– you'll only get her into trouble with grumpy nukes."

The two clients spun to meet Kaminari at the doorway, who shook his head at their startled looks. Asui casually shrugged off the fact that the boy had been there for a pretty long time. "Sorry I didn't properly greet you, ribbit. We were having some quality talks here, I didn't want to interrupt them."

"S'kay, Asui." he kicked the door shut, arms busy and heavy with what appeared to be harvests from the forest, colorful fruits and leaves peaking from the bag. Uraraka wanted to help him with the burden, but he seemed to be handling the charge with those good arms he had sure worked hard for. "Sorry for taking so long with these. I just couldn't decide on which ones to pick."

The herbalist gathered a bunch of contents from the top of the pile and spread them on the table, pointing at them to teach some medicine basics. "This red one is used for kids' medicines, as they are sweeter than regular herbs. It has no more use than its taste, used as an additive."

Mina quickly grabbed it – she sure had a sweet tooth for fruits and sugary products – and munched it. "Yummy! How is it called?"

"It's a variant of regular strawberries, called sterolia."

Kaminari raised an eyebrow while Uraraka tentatively tried one as well. "Sounds tough work, all the naming stuff." Uraraka spit the sterolia out– too much sweetness for her.

"This leaf here is poisonous, so I hope you were– ah, thank goodness you carried gloves with you." indeed, the blonde had a very worn out pair of gloves with him, stained and unsown in some parts. "Touching them carelessly causes horrible stitches, and the wounds from scratching the stung parts attract lots of bugs. Not pleasant."

Asui took the dark brown leaf and dipped it in a glass of water. Purple splotches of ink started to steam out of the leaf. "Bugs are in love with this thing, so we here use it for strategic purposes, to make enemies come out from their hideouts." she wiggled the glass a bit in front of them, the liquid spilling gracefully from the container and the other three took a step back. "Drinking this is horrifyingly painful for your stomach, but it has a bittersweet taste and smell, resembling a health potion. Iida once mistook this with a stamina potion and… well, it was rough for him."

Uraraka grasped the edges of her neck ties with concern and shock. "Who would have thought it! Did he have much trouble to fight it?"

The boy chuckled as good – should be bad – memories resurfaced from the bottom of his mind. "I remember once, he woke up mumbling something about a fight against aliens and him being super beaten up by them. What a weird guy."

Before Uraraka could embark into a solo voyage of a worry rampage, Asui cut in. "It is hallucinations too, it was only natural he had those visions. This is a pretty good sample of nitoria. You did a good job, Kaminari. I might ask Midoriya for an allowance to hire you permanently."

The job mustn't have been easy or funny, because Kaminari paled at the prospect of doing the job again. "I'll have to politely decline the offer, Asui. I'm of much more use at the battlefield."

"You sure are, _sparkles_." he tensed at the casual use of such dreadful nickname, and Uraraka and Mina giggled. Asui meant her words as a praise, but she doubted that edge had fallen their way. "Either way, there are also some other ingredients here for painkillers and sensorial enhancers. Mina, you had some ordered here, right?"

"Positive!" after a vigorous nod, Mina glanced at Uraraka, who was still observing the leaf let out the toxins deep into the water. "My Uraraka, you sure seem to like herbs and that stuff."

Kaminari also looked at her in wonder, eyes drifting from the purpling water to Uraraka, time after time. "I don't know why that surprises you so much. I had always thought sorcerers knew a bit about herbs and alchemy."

"Excuse me," the brunette sorcerer leant back from her watching pose and narrowed her eyes at him, trying to look as venomous as Bakugou would in a nice day. "I _do_ know a bit of all that– after all, I know how to do potions and stuff, but just the basics." her eyes wavered to Asui's unblinking ones, as she scanned her over and over. It was all kinds of awkward when one caught her glance like that. "Would it be too much to ask for some practice now and then, Asui?"

The green haired pharmacist shook her head. While she walked to a shelf to get some flasks, Kaminari started setting some other things on the table. "Not at all, Uraraka. I bet Bakugou and Midoriya would accept me giving you some lessons. All for training's sake and survival."

"Thank you very much, Asui!" the girl vowed dramatically until her forehead touched the floor, and Kaminari pulled her back by the hem of her uniform's neck. "I'll try to come as often as possible."

"Talking about lessons and nerdy stuff…" Kaminari tugged at the sorcerer's sleeve so she'd stop rambling about her future lessons with their high-level herbalist. "Yaoyorozu came to me earlier and asked about your whereabouts. She said she needed to speak to you privately."

Uraraka's back tensed right after mentioning the knight's name, and her eyes shone in anticipation. She was quick to jump in front of the blonde and start firing him with unspoken questions, all summed up to this: "Do you have any idea about what she wanted?"

"Nope." but her eyes didn't waver in intensity, her hands never let go of their tight grip on her chest's fabric, and her smile was brightening with each passing second. No matter how many "She's with Todoroki– necking, probably, discussing stuff at the library."

The brunette nodded with eagerness and her feet quickly scrambled to the door. Giddiness was taking over her body as her frantic steps neared the sunshine outside the alchemist's. "Thank you so much, Kaminari! I'll see you later at dinner, guys! Please Mina, do take care of yourself."

As soon as Uraraka was out of the room, Mina chuckled. "She sure is full of energy this late in the–"

The door was slammed open again. "HOW COULD I FORGET." making everyone jump a yard back, she screamed at them for answers. "Has anyone seen Jack around? I need to have a little talk with her."

"Last time I saw her, she was heading to the library downtown." he scratched his chin, backtracking all the way back to the very same sunny morning that had turned slightly cloudy and grim without Jack, then had opened up when Uraraka decided to drop by. "She has been missing ever since."

"Ah, I'm gonna head to the Sanctuary's library right after getting my stuff from Asui." and yes, Uraraka remembered that– also how Kirishima seemed to shine whenever she was close, and the way his tense muscles had softened around her shoulders, and it somehow felt like such a Yuuei-ish thing, making people so squishy and light inside. Uraraka's heart leaped out of her chest whenever she remembered that she was a member of this family now. "Is there anything in specific you need from her?"

"Nothing in particular apart from a talk we need to have. If you see her, remind her of this." the door was closing again, but no without a cheeky girl waving behind her. "Take care guys, see you later!"

When she was gone again, everyone let out a sigh of contentment. Kaminari looked at the archer while Asui sorted out the received items in a further shelf. "She's always running around– kinda reminds me of you in your earlier days, Mina."

The pink haired girl pouted and crossed her arms. "I am not a potential powerhouse threat to my peers, thank you so much. And I'm not in the best terms with Bakugou, but he at least hasn't tried to kill me."

"He did, once." commented Asui from afar, her words reaching meekly and as unemotional as ever. "Remember when Kirishima almost dropped hunting practice to tend your sore ankle? He sure is an angel."

There was a whole minute of silence in which the only response Mina gave was her left eye twitching, hands quivering, and as much as Kaminari did to wake her up from the trance, nothing was working.

When a shove didn't work, he looked at the unfazed herbalist with a narrowed, pointy glare. "I think you just broke Mina."

"Serves her right for calling me a mutant."

* * *

Uraraka's steps up the endless staircase of Yuuei's main building were a nightmare scenario of blood red carpeted steps with golden strings, holding the secrets of the very same guild hanging from a thread, an inch away from her nose and making her chase after those demons with even more determination than before, the strings wearing thinner and thinner until, someday, the fibers would give in to their.

Sparkles of jars full of sunflowers and roses blurred at her sides the more stairs she flew upon, her rhythm long forgotten and given in to the frantic beat of her heart, the crossed and uneven gasps that escaped her mouth and how the clouds beneath her lungs transcended and transcended until she was breathless, hopeless, and falling into another place far away from there, away from the violence, the disturbance and the disarrayed stream of peace that shot out from each of her peers' hearts.

"I gotta make it to the top…" her shoes stomped harder on the carpet, hands flailing in front of her as the end reached her eyes. "important matters await me there!"

Because Yaoyorozu screamed patience, understanding, intimacy, power and this dreadful sense of danger behind ever corner she had to turn, as if her eyes were always searching to corner hers into an alleyway of unfounded grudges that she clearly didn't desire to hold, yet she did because no matter how good one tried to be, rumors would always prevail over human faith. And Uraraka knew this. She had seen the same phantom behind everyone's seemingly innocent eyes.

But the brunette knew that while walking down this river, stepping on the wrong stone would have her meeting a fierce leader's sharp blade, fueled with bravery and desire. No matter how good-intended her beliefs were, popular opinions would always squish her little hopes into nothing if she ever dared to show her teeth too much.

So, when she opened the door to the library. it was somewhat surprising to see the two knights talking animatedly, with no care in the world– and even when she came into view clearly, that little spark didn't change. "Fancy meeting you here, Uraraka."

The sorcerer closed the door behind her and nodded a greeting to Todoroki, who sat on the table by his female counterpart, who had aimed for a chair. "I'm glad Kaminari told you to come by, otherwise I'm not sure if you would have made it in time before dinner."

"It's fine, you know I would have come by sooner or later." Uraraka decided not to sit down, and eyed some books with interest. Titles as _The Sword and the Sun_ flashed in front of her like a bird crossing the horizon, briefly and in a blur of confusing colors. "Is the matter of such emergency that you had to get a messaging dove for it?"

Todoroki chuckled and beckoned her to get closer to them, which she did with a meek glance at them. "It's good to see you in good shape after the events of last two days. I don't think a classical commoner would have withstood being stabbed, being almost stabbed _again_ by a bloodthirsty maniac and then defeating a monster almost on their own."

The knight chuckled as well, but shaking her head at the boy and then looking at the confused sorcerer. "That's Todoroki's congratulations for… I guess not being a commoner. Don't look much into that."

Uraraka sighed, but it didn't sound as relieved as one would have expected. "Yeah, it seems like people only know me for being _'the kamikaze who put off a volcano'_. Not that I'm ungrateful for the praise, but I just hope to grow a name out of my own personality, not battlefield victories– at least, for now."

"So, you wanna yield a name?" Yaoyorozu looked up from her book to look at her friend, who nodded vigorously with her hands to her chest. " _Interesting_. You have so many things to do here, and you seem resilient."

"It's not like you have little things to do, either." commented Todoroki with slight traces of both disdain and teasing, to which she responded with a little pout. "Besides, she's new in here. Of course she'll be busy, and even more while recovering and training with Bakugou."

Uraraka's brow twitched as she looked at the pair, who continued reading their books as if they hadn't said anything of particular importance. "Why… do you all seem to know about the training thing? Are you guys spying on me… on him?"

She didn't want to include the idea of an _us_ because that would be awfully misleading.

"Information here spreads fast. I just hope Bakugou doesn't know about it, he'd sure throw a monumental tantrum over being spied on." complained Yaoyorozu. Uraraka felt a bit flustered at the idea that they had been spying on their last conversation, while she had been fixing his fingers– ugh. Some pink now sure had made its way to her cheeks and she didn't know why because nothing of special relevance happened. "Either way, there are some things I wanted to show you."

The knight let her book on the table – Todoroki slipped a finger on the last page she had been reading with a sly sway of his eyes, making Uraraka smile at the little act of complicity. Then, her eyes drifted to the girl scrolling her eyes for a specific book. It must have been one of those dusty ones if she was struggling so much to find it. Books at the top seemed dusty to the naked eye, big fat pages engrossing the eyes of the interested reader in hours of silent learning. Others seemed lighter, covers thinner, and some of these were piled up at the bureau at the back, mixed with some thicker ones.

Uraraka approached the bureau with curiosity under Todoroki's veiled but short stare, and picked up a random book. This one specifically talked about metamorphosis, and as she eyes the first pages, it turns out like it was something she herself could do with practice. " _Shapeshifting_." it came as a murmur that only Todoroki picked up, but he was now too busy reading his things to bother answering. " _The art of material shifting_."

The knight was quick to slap the book away from her hands, as if Uraraka was a child and she was a mother, looking out for her. "Don't you even dare go near that thing."

The sorcerer frowned and squatted to pick the book up– her hands traced the spine of the book delicately, aware of its decripit state. "Why not? I bet this would help me train for a bit by learning new stuff, even if it's side skills!" her eyes scanned the first pages of the book quickly while the other glared. Hard. "Well, _this_ seems complicated– ouch, that can hurt like a– I can transform into wate–?!"

Yaoyorozu snatched the book away, frowning down at her. It felt like someone had cut down a rope that the sorcerer was climbing right before reaching the peak of the mountain, and now she was falling down to an abyss, her head full of questions as the knight left the book right on the top shelf where very few people could reach.

"Off limits, Uraraka." spat she, not meaning to be unkind, but coming across as defensive and angry. "We _do_ want you to expand your prowess, but there's a limit to everything. What's the first rule of sorcery use?"

A second later, Uraraka sighed and pointed out her index. " _Never try or wield spells or moves that are high above your capacity, lest they will backfire on you_." listed she in a monotone deadpan. The knight nodded, and Uraraka instantly started to complain. "But that's not fair at all! It's not like I'm going to go around shapeshifting when I'm wary of–"

"But _are_ you aware of what you can handle, really?" Todoroki flashed the other knight a warning glare, which Yaoyorozu blatantly ignored with a frown of hers. "Remember when you clearly consumed all your energy during your fight with Pyrox? Despite the fact that you kind of saved our lives back there, we can't let you adopt to that habit. Sorcerers have great habilities, can usually pull off any level moves they wish for– but they can backfire dramatically."

"I know the basics of sorcery, I know about level barriers and all of that." the burn from the other day with a simple candle was the first example of how aware she was. Big things could be done with small bodies, but it would always backfire in catastrophic ways. It would always depend on how much energy you had and your capacity. "But I am pretty sure I can start learning the basics of high level stuff while I make my way–"

"That's not it, Uraraka."

"Then?"

Yaoyorozu locked gazes with the other knight, who seemed to be having trouble with focusing on the book and biting his tongue at the same time. His knuckles started to rub his thigh, a clear sign of distress– the knight hissed as she stared harder on him, as if telling him to either shut up or speak up, but stop making a fuss over it. It's not like she usually had the upper hand on him, but this time, it looked like he'd let her maneuver to her liking.

Yaoyorozu was back to acting slightly worried about the handful she had in front of her, who blinked an alarmingly amount of times in confusion. "Power is a double edged sword. And in your case, it plays more to your disadvantage than it does in your favour."

Uraraka glanced at Todoroki, who was having an internal crisis regarding how vague his companion was purposefully being, and then blinked back at the other female. "Care to elaborate?"

She sighed and sat down again on the chair, rubbing her sore eyes with fervor and enthusiasm before facing Uraraka again. "You are a sorcerer, a powerful one. Having you develop such high level skills at an early stage will only attract attention from people."

"In other words," cut in the other boy, without looking up from his book. "they will want your head faster."

The notion fell on her like an avalanche shaking a tree, stars twinkling behind her eyes and her ears starting to deafen the more reality dampened her in fueled determination, but also doubt and everlasting dread of, again, that nauseous feeling of having a thousand eyes looming from above– and it all and it only made her wonder, wonder if there was no easy way to make them all realize that she wasn't evil. Her eyes dropped to the ground, existentially decades away from the very moment when Todoroki felt a little bit of pity for that little girl. Because of course he was skeptical, but he hadn't seen her do anything bad either.

"I don't really see what's the problem with me learning some basics…" her face was crestfallen, lips drawn in a thin line as she spoke. "But I guess I can understand your standpoint to a certain extent."

Lights went on in Yaoyorozu's stern glance, that had grown soft under Uraraka's surrender, and she flung to a side of the table to gather a pair of books. "That doesn't mean you can't check some of _these_ books out."

Todoroki took the books from the knight and handed them to the sorcerer, but he still wouldn't look up from his books. The brunette looked at the volumes in sheer happiness and excitement, like a little girl with a lollipop or a set of new crayons, and eyed the titles of the rather big volumes, all covered in leather and metallic intrincated patterns, rough to the touch but expelling wisedom and magic all over their surface. One of them seemed to be a basic guide into elementary sorcery and summoning, and another into basics of other side techniques.

It all screamed rookie, weak, and she didn't really like it– yet, she reluctantly took the books to heart and nodded to the knight. The little snippits she had read touched on subjects she already had knowledge about, but it was a bit like mathematics and astrology: things she definitely knew about, yet she never gave them much use. Uraraka was more ambicious than to dive into the known seas of principant sorcery, expected exciting things to happen to her now that the Baku-deathflag was out of sight.

But she could understand that they needed to keep her a bit down to earth for the time being. Doing some basic training like this would open her doors more, make her rethink a little bit her choices during battles. Perhaps Bakugou was right and maybe – her hands clenched their grip on the books, making their existence and weight more relevant and vivid –, just maybe, she could improve by boosting some basics.

A minute or so after – when the black haired girl had sat down again, apparently for real this time, a tiny bulb lit up on her avid imagination. Her fingers threaded through the various pages of index references, eyes skidding over the words like water on ice, her eyes fixated in a single word she was struggling to find.

"Is there…" her voice trailed off for two seconds, giving the other two guild members to look at her, as she switched books. "is there any appendix on… dreams and the like?"

Their reaction was as she had predicted: surprised, albeit not completely shocked. Todoroki finally looked up from his volume – now that the sorcerer inspected it in a closer look, it was even dirtier and older than hers. "Dreams." he tasted the word in his chapped lips, and then she nodded. "Are you interested in oneiromancy or something?"

Her head was going to shake in denial before she mentally took a step back and contemplated the word, appearing in glistening lights and a cloud of fog, trying to blur her thoughts until she snapped and nodded ever so slowly. "Yeah… kind of."

"Well, I don't think there is anything akin to oneiromancy here." Yaoyorozu looked at the ceiling in wonder, gesture that somehow seemed so typical of her to do. "If there was, I certainly don't know anything of it. But there are always oracles to go to."

Uraraka left the books on the table, took out a very uncomfortable looking chair to sit down on and gawked at the knight. "Oracles?"

Todoroki carried on with the explanation. "They are usually old women who live in small villages, usually in exile. They often _can_ practice oneiromancy, _but_ ," his hands shot up to stop what was going to be a beaming interruption, her eyes dulling a little bit as her words were stopped. "it's a bit dangerous to rely on a stranger for issues that involve psychology. If you ever encounter one and decide to consult her, be careful with what lies she can tell you."

"Most of them don't charge you for consulting them," she said, thinking that Uraraka would be relieved to hear that – which she wasn't, because gold wasn't something she really cared about. "But it's true that some people still leave their chambers in a worse condition than before. They are a tricky business to meddle with."

Uraraka's expression twisted into a sour frown, her hands now cluthing the book harder as she looked through some pages hesitantly. Ever since those dreams had been hunting her, her mind had woken in a haze of unchasable chains of events, something she felt close to her, but was somehow tearing her apart. Both her hands were stretched, two threads pulling her in opposite directions towards where home was supposed to be, yet she was feeling undeniable torn apart despite her general contentment.

In a sense, her mind wasn't completely settled, it hadn't wrapped around the facts that had been happening around her– and it was driving her insane. Everything around her was unknown, a foreign space where stars shone in a distance too far for her dainty hands to reach, and the void somehow grew bigger and bigger as flashes of people, smiles and sunflowers passed by. Her steps through the streets would feel ghostly, as if she had forgotten how to walk yet was managing to stand and survive, and not knowing how was eating her alive.

If her fingers stretched into the distance and screamed for her memories to come back, they wouldn't. There was nothing there for her. They had never been to start with.

"I guess you have been having trouble sleeping, then?" wondered Yaoyorozu casually, but still addressed the matter with care, her reading slowing down to hear what she had to say.

Her head snapped up, and her fully white grin was back on full to grace their day. Uraraka scratched her cheek with nonchalance. "You could say that."

"Then maybe Asui can give you a hand on that." Todoroki grunted, his book already closed, and hoped off the table. "Anyway, duty downtown calls me. Do you need anything from there?"

"Wait!"

Uraraka abruptly rose from her chair and slammed her hand on the table to call his attention despite him being still in the room, looking at her with expectation– and her eyes trembled their way up his blue vest, padded up the porcelain skin at his neck and fixated her irises on his cold ones– which had little stems of concern in his eyes at times, but it was always short lived, and all she wanted was for everyone to bear with her a little longer than that.

But, again, something snapped inside of her the minute her eyes bore into his too far, as they got entangled with the miseries that heart of his must be enduring, and she felt worthless under his unpurposed glare. The words she had meant to say sunk down hell fast, trespassing her stomach and twisting her gut awkwardly.

"I just wanted to thank you for your assitance while I was dungeon hunting the other day!" her head was vowed a little bit, hat shadowing her flushed expression. "I am so sorry you had to go out of your way and look after me!"

The boy's eyes fidgeted when looking at the bashful newcomer, then fluttered to rest on Yaoyorozu's stare. Judging by her bored expression and how quickly her eyes had shifted back to her book, the same thought had crossed her mind. He waved his hand at her in dismissal, to which she only titled her head in disbelief. "There is nothing you need to thank me for." he approached the door to leave the room, but looked at Uraraka and softly added something in the last second. "That's what guildmates are for."

When the door closed, a charge of meaningful feelings and newfound significances fell heavy on her shoulders, tingles of positivity and acceptance crushing her alive, so she smiled, grinned because someone seemed to be outwardly giving her a hand by giving her a chance– but Yaoyorozu had seen the way her mood lifted, and was quick to cut it short with her all-seeing eyes, the welcome slashed in mid air.

"The guild will be having dinner soon." commented the other, aloof, as if not giving it importance. Uraraka twitched a bit, aware of how serious Yaoyorozu sounded and only being able to hear the busy rustle of pages being turned. "Leave your books at your dorm and go down with the others. If anybody asks, tell them I'll be skipping dinner today."

Uraraka turned to this, ready to give her a very ironic lecture on alimentation. "But–"

" _Uraraka_."

The sorcerer fully turned to the knight, who was still pretending to read that very thick book, more intimidating than the ones she clutched close to her chest. Before the soorcerer could muster as much of a response, Yaoyorozu's eyes had turned as cold as Todoroki's frown– which was not visible, but was mentally craved on Uraraka's head, eyes dull in menace.

"You didn't mean to ask such petty excuse of a request to Todoroki, am I right?"

Such dour voice shook all muscles of her being, making her look at her books to just minimize the impact of Yaoyorozu's future implications. The words rattled for minutes in her head before Yaoyorozu considered the silence as a very good answer on its own, and her eyes landed on Uraraka's shaken up stance. Eyes black, dark glare, stared at her in a frightengly invisible threat.

"Don't you ever dare pull again another move like the one you did back there with Bakugou." pages still rustled. "If you do as much of a trick similar to that one, we will have problems. I am willing to accept you,"

–There was a pause, and Uraraka could feel her breaths consume her sole existence with anticipation and dread. –

"but I will never condone cursed magic in this guild. And I am in a stage that I could either hug you or gladly give you a beating without having very few doubts about it. Trust me when I say that not many people on here would even care to give you a proper burial."

Her shoulders shifted, feeling how her words plunged all kinds of irrational fears and successfully took out all sense of acceptance and resolution she had ever held. These people were open to trusting her – she remembered, this bitter taste filling the room in white noise and backtracking, hope trembling again underneath Yaoyorozu's pinning eyes – but they were also willing to kill her if she dared to do a single wrong move out of their eyes.

"I am more aware of that than what may seem." spat she out without giving it much thought, words flying out of her mouth before she could take them back. "But I am going to show you all that I am trustworthy enough."

"I am not saying that we are all spying on you." her eyes softened the tiniest bit, making Uraraka remember that yes, Yaoyorozu was fierce, but she was also kind. "We are aware that there are people who are starting to trust you already– I myself find the heart to do so. But if you ever dare take our hands to then eat our whole arm… we will have problems, alright?"

"Again, I know that I can't expect to be fully embraced the first day. You guys are… generous, kind. But I also know that being open to a risk doesn't mean you are going to be fully reckless about it."

She could feel Yaoyorozu shifting, feel her heart beating as fast and out of cadence as hers, lungs constricting and finding it hard to breathe under the looming, silent risk of having a potential terrorist in her headquarters– but still trying to find the heart to accept her and put their lives in her hands like they had done many times before, but risking a whole universe in the process.

"This is our last warning, Uraraka." deadpanned the knight– but it felt like everyone was talking to her at the same time, their hands hovering over her throat with a plastic knife–, clothes crumpling in the distance and her voice thin and frail like a stray loose hair in a thread. "If you take things a step too far from now on, you're over. So you can either stay or leave now."

Uraraka shuffled the two volumes to her neck, knuckles white with so much pressure in them – the weight of maybe killing somebody, of maybe killing an entire nation and then, eventually, maybe killing a whole universe – the whole notion of blood and despair in the body of an innocent man flashed in front of her eyes, and flickered to disappear when Uraraka turned, mild frown wrinkling her features.

"I was personally invited by one of the leaders to stay for what I could create, not destroy." one of her hands grasped the door as the other almost crushed the books on her chest. "And for the little amount of faith you guys have put on me, I will make it a worthy investment."

And with that, her dress swayed out of the room with the soft thud of the wooden door, and Yaoyorozu finally let down the façade to lean back, smile and sigh in relief.

"And I shall welcome you here, Uraraka."

* * *

"Who was at the kitchen tonight?"

Everyone sitting on the table turned to look at her while Uraraka minded her own business, drinking straight from the bowl of soup. This elicited a hearty laugh from her, wiping a stain of soup from the corners of her mouth. "C'mon, don't look at me like that; this was pretty good!"

Kaminari, who sat straight in front of her with his over the top leather jacket– wasn't he hot in that? – puckered his lips in focus at how happy she seemed with just a warm cup of soup, nose wrinkled in disgust. "It's Asui's explorer quick soup. Turns out somebody didn't know how to shop around town right."

Funnily enough, he was mocking himself, and it seems like making that soup was some kind of punishment for him. Asui, who sat with Uraraka, slapped his hand away from the bread. "You were unlucky it was only us three having dinner now. Things would have probably been different if it had been more of us here."

"Speaking of…" Uraraka looked around the common room, where no other people other than those three members stood. The chattery guild had turned into a pale shadow of itself within the passing of busy hours, people coming and going out and in. "where is everybody?"

"Ah, this is the usual." Kaminari drank some water to let the water cleanse his withering throat, feeling the bitter taste of the soup be washed away. "Since us all have different occupations and tasks, it's fairly normal to have mismatched schedules. Asui and I are usually with Jack and Mina today, but last days' events have shaken our schedules up a bit."

"So you never have, like, family dinners?"

"We _do_ , but it's very unusual." pointed out Asui, stealing her friend's loaf of bread away. "It only happens after guild battles or during special festivities. Sometimes, mixed professionals have it easier to coincide with others, but there are very scarce examples of that."

"Mixed professionals?"

"Todoroki, for example." Kaminari drank more and more water the more soup he ate. "He can fullfill minor sorcery quests and S-class knight quests. Mina, also, can fullfill S-class archery quests – well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, she struggles a little – and some minor hunter ones. She can swing a hammer like a beast."

"Some people usually tag together for quests like those. This guild doesn't take in that many anymore, mainly because we don't really need the extra gold with all these expeditions we partake in on a regular basis. We're more busy with guild management more than anything nowadays, but this guild used to be buzzling with activity the first months." added Asui, and Uraraka just listened intently, hearing Kaminari gulp all the water in a sole intake.

The sorcerer was starting to feel a bit thirsty, so she blindly reached out for the jar of ice cold water, only to feel it empty. "I can't believe you drank it all in one go."

The blonde scratched the back of his head, taking the jar from her hands with a guilty smile sketched playfully on his features. "Asui's soup is a real killer!"

"Please, go fill it in." he didn't budge at first, but then Uraraka fluttered her eyelashes at him despite the blatantly obvious fact that her hands were sparking with a very troublesome looking yellow fire. " _Now_."

And the boy dashed by them, only to be stopped by Asui's tongue on his elbow. "With lemon." and she let the boy hurry to the kitchen. Uraraka stared in wonder at the alchemist. "I like it refreshing. Hope you don't mind. Besides, it will make the taste of the soup fade away a bit faster for him."

The brunette turned her head to the kitchen, where Kaminari desperately searched for lemons on a big fruit basket. Then, a little giggle. "It's alright. There was no need to be so hard on him for picking the wrong ingredients for dinner, though."

"Don't sweat it, Uraraka. He sometimes hesitates with which ingredients to buy, or just plain forgets about it." the little girl craned her head a bit, and her eyes narrowed as he racked around a bag of goodies for lemons. "He is one of the very few that can't stand the taste of the soup, others being Hagakure and Midoriya, ribbit. It's very healthy and quick to make, so it's what we usually eat during expeditions."

"Sounds like a good deal for me." Uraraka toyed with the spoon on the bowl, eyes imagining the vivid colors of a fire against the oak trees, owls screeching in the distance as members told stories while eating this soup, maybe Kaminari puking in a faraway bush. A dreamy sigh escaped her lips. "Yeah, definitely good."

"So, what were we talking about, again?" Uraraka woke up from the daydream, looking at her friend while Kaminari approached them from behind. When the jar was set on the table, the sorcerer took the glass container with a smile. "Ah, yes, schedules and dinner."

"It's not like having dinner in small groups is a bad thing." chipped in Kaminari, his arm draped across the bench. His eyes were focused in a far away memory. "I can't remember the last time I had dinner with Bakugou and Midoriya, and it's not something I'd be looking forward to."

Asui nodded. "Agreed. Dinners with Midoriya are delightful, he's always talking, almost like Uraraka… but Bakugou is either silent or moody."

Uraraka had been busy with muscular rehabilitation all morning to even notice that she hadn't seen Midoriya ever since she woke up the night after Pyrox's defeat. "It's been long since I last saw Midoriya… and Bakugou." there was a trivial need to add the barbarian leader too, because now that she thought about it, they hadn't talked much about their training sprees. Her eyes looked at the glassy glow of the bown under the candles. "Must have been busy."

"They are sorting out some business at the Council, they should be here soon." the herbalist offered Kaminari the jar of water, which he denied with a shake of the head as he spoke. "Doing paperwork at the office is absolutely dreadful, lemme tell you. Reports and the like are the worst part of sweeping off an area."

"But it's not like it was a quest, right?" asked the brunette, pouring some water on her glass. "As far as Todoroki told me, it was only another regular enemy on the way to an important path."

"…which is correct information." remarked Kaminari. "But it was not an authorized mission, therefore we are dealing with a ban. This village only authorizes business inside its borders, and the moment we meddle with enemies that are not only above our level, but also out of our barriers, we get a ban."

"Then, why did we have to defeat an enemy out of our barriers to go to a path that is also out of our barriers? I guess there must be something important out there if Bakugou and Midoriya were so hellbent on going there, right?"

Asui and Kaminari blinked at her full load of questions, and discovered that she was way too quick to tie knots without enough information. Not like she was mistaken, anyway. "It's a complicated story." answered Asui, munching some bread quietly. "You should better ask Bakugou, who was the one leading the operation."

"Yeah, I obviously did ask him as soon as I was told that we had that ban issue on our heads." spat she, eyes narrowed and hands grasping the glass of water impatiently. Her fingers clenched around the glass when his insulting voice came to mind. "Told me to mind my own business. That insolent jerk…"

The blonde chuckled, eyes flickering in affection for the girl. Somehow, she had such warm spirit and sunny demeanor that seeing her so fixated on despising their leader was hilarious, and she had survived the tale after having Bakugou confront her. He couldn't help but feel attached to her. "It's fine to hate him at first. Trust me, I did at first too." the girl looked at him, head titled and eyes sparkling against the molding candle light. "Not like I don't dislike him now, but we all respect him as a leader."

That statement did weird things to her twisting thoughts, and it clashed with a dangerous edge of her whole conception of her guild mates. "I'm always hearing you guys speak about Bakugou in terms of respect and, in a degree, fear – but Midoriya is another leader of Yuuei, and you guys almost never refer to him as such."

Asui frowned at the statement, but didn't disagree on this very right notion. "Their personalities are too clashing to wrap your mind about them being leaders. Bakugou is much more serious about it in the outside, while Midoriya… he works much more than he should. After all, mental effort counts as well."

"We _do_ aknowledge him as a leader, but he doesn't give that vibe as much as Bakugou does." Kaminari was drinking water again, and had also successully got himself some bread. "I bet you think the same."

"Sincerely, I had already talked about this with Jack the day I fought Bakugou. Midoriya doesn't seem as powerful as Bakugou is, but that may be because I have never seein him in action." Uraraja clasped her hands under her chin, eyes shut as she tried to remember any image of Midoriya fighting during their encounter with Pyrox. "But if he's a leader, I can only think he is powerful."

"First, don't think that a leader must be by force of occupation the most powerful member of a guild." Asui's words shut her mouth, speaking as bluntly and earnestly as usual. "And second, Midoriya _is_ powerful, but he doesn't let it shine too often. He is still a bit small in power, but I bet that with time, it will blossom."

Blossom. The off choice of words made the sorcerer briefly wonder about what exactly were Midoriya's skills in battle, but she decided to make a mental note to address it later to the leader. For now, she only drank water and tapped her fingers against the glass. "I just hope they aren't doing too much stuff at the Council. Who knows how much patience one can–"

The door swung open with a loud bang, almost falling off its hinges as the charismatic leader triumphantly made his way into the guild's common room. " _WE ARE FINALLY FREE, DAMN IT_."

Midoriya, who was shyly trailing behind his cape, beamed at the trio of startled members, that were on the edge of their seats after Bakugou's entrance. Uraraka's eyes lit up at the comic duo. "He's been screaming that just after we left the Council."

"Dude, did they finally lift the ban?" asked Kaminari in his ever lasting laid-back voice, head lolling backwards to meet the hot-headed leader, who only snarled with a dangerous shadow on his eyes. "Does that mean you can already go around stealing kids' candies?"

Bakugou's hands wrestled Kaminari out of the bench and started grinding his fist against his blonde mane. "Who are you calling a bully, sparkles!?"

Midoriya ignored the ruckus and took Kaminari's empty place with a placid smile. Uraraka also tuned off the noise of grunting and swearing to focus on Asui's words. "I am glad we can finally go hunting. I don't think Mina and Kirishima would have lasted another day without eating meat. And don't get me started with the practicing straw dummies."

Midoriya sighed, barely missing the jolts of electricity that Kaminari was defensively issuing to paralyze the beast that was overpowering him. Uraraka grimaced both at the beating and the hinder of those silly fake foes. "Yeah, I heard Kirishima moan about those. He sure doesn't like idle enemies, huh."

Bakugou finally let Kaminari drop to the ground, who was letting out nonsensical moans and cracking jokes with the floor he was licking. The ashen blonde only swore at him and shook his arms for some tension relieving, voice breathy. "Fuck, I truly needed that." his eyes scanned the table and all around it, eyes finally landing on Uraraka, who was shaking with anticipation. However, the leader's eyes were not as hard as usual, still bleeding in anger and violent discordance– but they were so, so clear now. "Shouldn't you be doing muscular recovery, sleeping, or whatever suicidal sorcerers do?"

Her breath quivered a little when his lips drew down and down until he was frowning at her, either because she was being reckless – news flash: she wasn't – or because she was existing in the same room he was. None of those options made her eyes back down from his digging ones, that pierced her chocolate eyes for answers and trying to make her shake a little.

Her heart was doing weird things out of intimidation inside her chest, beating to the rhythm of a crazy dance of chaos, and she could feel confidence skating on the surface of her fingertips like everytime they spoke or fought, and the stars that loomed high above the roof and the world sighed in unison to the erratical cadence of her little, throbbing heart. That guy was dangerous, made her feel too intimidated and so very angry at times, yet she felt the need to still stick relatively close to him, albeit just enough so they wouldn't clash too often.

In the end, she just ended as far as a stranger– but her hands, those eyes of hers that lingered on his with determination, they all wanted a bit more.

The words slipped naturally, bones idle and her thoughts falling off her thin lips. "Shouldn't you apparently be ambushing little kids for sweets?"

A count down was going on his head, fuse at the verge of ignition. His reaction was inmediate, and Midoriya had to calmly stop his companion from slaughtering her in the spur of the moment with a hand to his front. Kaminari's words echoed right behind Midoriya, behind the bench, and a hand shot out from there. "Well done, Uraraka!"

"You little–" Bakugou kicked his peer on the ribs, but not as aggressively as one would have expected. Asui was already up, ready to heal him, and the leader was quick to boss her around. "Heal that fucker and make sure he gets some rest."

By the looks of it and surprisingly enough for Uraraka, seeing how there was this regretful corner on Bakugou's eyes, he didn't go beating his comrades very often, which was somewhat calming and smile-worthy. So, she smiled at him under Midoriya's curious eyes. "You at least had the decency to let him be healed."

The green haired boy took a sharp breath. "Urara–"

"I am not that kind of scum." spat Bakugou, slowly rounding his way to her. His hand slammed the wood between her glass of water and the edges of the table, making the water dance at the brims. "They are members of this guild, I don't go around beating the shit out of everyone I see, y'know. It's conterproductive for our activity."

"That's true…" murmured Midoriya, amused by the way Uraraka wasn't unfazed by that murdering glint he had on his eyes when he got too close for one to notice, and how Bakugou was internally screaming for not being able to scare the hell out of her. They were an interesting combo. "He's strangely respectful to us."

The ashen blonde made a sharp turn and his frown deepened, if that was possible, fists flying dangerously close to Midoriya. "What the fuck are you implying, greenielocks!? You calling me a wuss?"

The other leader gulped nervously, palms raised in defense as he inched away from the towering figure. The brunette sipped from her glass, eyes shifting between the rowdy mess and the more collected leader. "It's not like that, Bakugou!"

The hunter leant back and his head snapped back to Uraraka, who eyed him with that soft, naïve spirit of hers that Bakugou absolutely despised, because he knew she was a fucking duplicitous sorcerer that had that veil of purity and cuteness, but was a beast on the inside– and he felt tricked, felt like she was lying on his face. Her eyes were always doing that thing that turned everyone to goo, was always letting out sparkles and butterflies like she was some goddamn fairy.

It did weird things to him. She was a liar, and it sent his heart on an override everytime she came to him with that cutesy acting when he had experienced her other face. "Whatever." his eyes were peeled away from hers with the very same annoyed shine in his sunset eyes that defeated any traces of pardoning for the girl. "I'm going to bed. Don't go making any fucking mess while I'm gone."

Her head snapped up to see him making his way to the staircase, and was quick to chase after him seconds after his form had left the room. She got up as fast as possible, feeling a bit light-headed, and dashed after him. "Wait, Bakugou!"

And even after she closed the door behind her, not paying attention to Midoriya's call, Uraraka could hear the angry steps of the short-tempered boy thumping on the polished carpet of the corridor, and her pace increased until his hunched form was visible to her on the staircase, him ascending to his room on the last floor.

"Bakugou."

He was halfway through a step when his muscles tensed the tiniest bit, and his walk stopped alltogether to the sound of her irritatingly pitched voice. There was a little hiss, then he turned to look at her. He was always on top of her, him stoic and proud while she was a mess of breaths and pants floors and worlds beneath his reach and disruption, nice and tdy where he could watch her. They didn't belong to the same world, him being a powerful hunter and she being a potential enemy.

He didn't like that – and he frowned at her as she spoke, probably saying something stupid, as always, about nice things – he didn't like having the enemy at home. Yet he had promised to stop whining and threatening her, so he would try not to.

"I just wanted to ask how you were feeling… but I see you have healed nicely." his fingers were no longer bandaged, twitching in stiffness for whatever loss of time she would be saying now. "And just ask about the training you were so enthusiastic about. I didn't put up with your mood swing that night to have you avoiding it."

His hands scraped the fabric of his pockets, then fisted them and turned to her a little bit more. She wasn't panting like he had expected, or breathless or struggling to stand. She was still there, looking up and expecting him to answer without fear in her little bland eyes, unprepared and raw intensity– oh, he hated her so much, sometimes. Never meeting his expectations.

He couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad thing, so when he blinked, his eyes were torn in between ire and peaceful displeasure. "Do I look like I care about it? Yeah, I know that you are gonna train with me, but I've had other things in mind other than your fucking stuff."

That made Uraraka jump, but not in the way he wanted to – no negative emotions flowered in her: no anger, no sadness, no defeat. It was only empty surprise that made her hands fly to her front and her shoulders rise in shock. "Right. I'm sorry for being so impatient. The ban has me a bit uneasy too, I guess."

A senseless, breathy laugh danced out of her mouth, blowing on Bakugou's ears and vexing him to no end. She was always being this nonsensical, stupid, impatient, innocent and fake– she seemed to want to deceive him so hard that it was sometimes hard to believe she was an imposter. He was still learning to draw the line between them, so little by little, he would someday be able to block her.

For now, he had to suck it all up: the hate, the ignoration, the whirlwind he felt everytime their eyes met. It was all but positive. "Is there anything you need? or can I go to bed already?"

It was worded kindly, yet spoken brash and impatient. This made Uraraka deflate a little, and she retreated to the exit of the wing. "I don't think so. Just speak to me as soon as you have a plan… and please, do sleep well!"

When Uraraka had turned to leave, Bakugou hadn't still moved. Her flowing shape was becoming no more than a fading thread of footsteps when he called out her name, making her turn around, ready for an earful or something. But then came his almost hurried, whispered sentence.

"I will probably be at the clock tower's balcony, knowing myself." he then did something so contradictory that it made her feel mentally dizzy, yet warm nonetheless, despite all the coldness he carried with him. "Don't come unless you gonna have something to say."

And then he restarted his pride stride upstairs, Uraraka lingered on the sport – under him, as it would always be – while looking at him from afar, her hands looming over the doorknob to the common room. His back shifted under the lights of the candles, his body never bending no matter the stairs he walked on, the enemies, the heads, or the corpses he stepped on to reach his goal. Fake, invisible dust and blood mixed on his skin, and all she could do at that moment of silence was wonder who that man was… and why she was so fixated on him during late sleepless nights.

A gentle smile shone on her lips for brief seconds, and then she left to the common room. Uraraka was met with a panicking Asui and Midoriya also trying to tend to her, the whole room screaming anxiety and distress the more she looked into the situation.

"Kaminari… he's just spluttering like a nerd. I think he's gone over his voltage limit."

" _He has what_."

* * *

Uraraka had had doubt before her feet had quickly padded their way through the corridor, up the clock tower, and finally reached the door. When it had been time for her to call it a day, she had seriously intended it to stay that way: a day ended, night destined to peaceful slumber. However, no matter how much she rolled, wiggled, snuggled and tried to bounce on the bed, she would end up screaming in rage at her pillow.

A corner of her embroiled mind had swallowed Bakugou's offer a little too hard. In fact, she was feeling choked up, her hands trembling because she knew that the fearsome leader was half waiting for her, half hoping she wouldn't show up– but he was up there, and the fact that she even knew that little bit of information was driving her insane.

Her eyes had fallen shut for a few minutes, blackness welcoming her– but as if hands were shooting up from the darkness to squeeze her dead, her eyes would snap open again. Trepidation sneaked up behind her tense back, shattering her resolve to ignore the leader to peaces, and her plans were suddenly crumbling to nothingness as well. Uraraka stared at the ceiling, wind howling outside, stars in her eyes.

She could go, meet him up the clock tower.

But she really, really didn't have the need to.

All traces of determination, all traces of feeling and rest that had been whirling all in between her bones, her muscles, making her heart soar– it all plumetted to the ground deep below her restless eyes, drew her eyes to a darker hue and made Uraraka fist the sheets in agitation and pure outrage. Confusing feelings clashed all over her, surfaced in front of her wide awake corpse as she stretched a hand, trying to make all determination and composure come back to her so she'd feel complete again.

Those fingers of hers fell on her chest, clutching her beating heart. Bakugou shouldn't affect her this much, but a part of her knew why he had told her about his plans, knew that they had some stuff to talk about and that she had some questions for him. Despite all those very valid motives, a fraction of her conflicted mind had regarded them as stupid and trapped her on an empty bed, so focused on those intimidating eyes of his that

That was the moment when she put on some shoes, grabbed her dear shawl to put around her sleepwear, and thoughtlessly wandered around the corridors, lingered on each stair a second longer than necessary, and finally got to the door. Behind that very same door stood the leader– and she knew this.

Fear anchored her backwards in the very same way that it had done the first night. Hands trembled, afraid of what emotional rampage he would throw at her this time. But then she remembered, remembered that she was not going to do anything good down at her bedroom, and her hands clasped the knob and twisted as slowly as possible.

Moonlight shone on him like a mother looking down at a child, lovingly and gracing the leader with this calm, relax and light halo of purity and heaven. Her knuckles were paling the tighter she clutched the shawl and the more she looked at him, her presence probably undetected as his eyes twinkled underneath the pale dots of the starry sky, darkness enveloping his back and cape while milky light bathed his skin, moved his hair, and tied him down to a very heavy reality that was her sole existence and the demons she carried within.

The planets in orbit around them lined up to see her look at him, eyes gleaming under the precious satellite of light and nothingness as the midnight breeze clocked and blew the seconds, minutes, away. She didn't know how long she stayed there, looking at him breathe in, looking human for once and knocking some sense of numbness and grace onto her.

After what seemed like minutes, hours, decades and eternities of air and pink supernovas blasting high above them, his feet turned to look at her. He looked painfully surprised to see her there, but his cold wall was back up a second later. "Took you long enough."

Uraraka only stared up at him, shifting the shawl around her shoulders with unease as his eyes only scrutinized deeper into her brown pools, lukewarm contemplation crashing with his hellish irises the more air swayed her tresses, the more her eyes shone under the pearly moonlight– and his heart did that double clap, stomach lurched, warning him that this woman was dangerous, that he shouldn't contemplate the idea of normalizing her stay at the guild. Dangerous but cute, deceitful and currently driving him insane, that was who she was and he couldn't condone a single swat of her witch eyes.

Because she was anything but normal, she was terrifying in her own private ways. And he was a monstrosity as well, but his ways were more outspoken and irking than hers for mostly everyone. And the fact that Uraraka was an enemy, an enemy that nobody was considering– it put him on edge. Still, he found the heart to forget his tantrum for a little moment, heart clenching in thriving disgust that was reduced to a spotless aknowledgement and he turned to look out again, gaze cast on the ghost town below them.

She took this as some kind of permission to step nearer to him, nearer than she had that day he almost suffocated her with livid bites, and her steps sounded faint and too light for a deceiving being like her. He eyed her from the corner of his vision, hands deep in his pockets as she spoke with that pitched, yet now smooth trail of words. "I take it you must like astrology, yes? I could teach you some bits someday."

"Astrology?" without looking at him, she smiled and nodded with that bright shit she had going on with her. He scoffed. "What the fuck. I don't like none of that."

At least he hadn't insulted her _yet_ , that was an improvement. Uraraka shrugged and took a little step closer to the stone railing. "Well, it sure feels nice here. If you aren't coming for scientific business, it sure must be good to take a breather up here before going to sleep."

"I don't know what's this small talk for, but I ain't gonna play the game. I seriously hope that's not what you came up here for, Uraraka."

Her form recoiled from the railing and she took a step near him this time, making him take a step back in surprise too. No way she was going to invade his personal space now. "I do have questions! I just wanted to be nice!" her cheeks puffed, head turned to look at the town that lay under them. "Christ, give me a break. Can't you at least bear with people being polite?"

His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and hands fisted tight, he grunted a blunt response to her stupid words. "Not if they make me lose my damn time." Uraraka sighed. "Make it quick: what the hell do you want?"

The brunette watched him blink at her with those thirsty eyes of his that could sure make nations crumble under his stares, make hordes of enemies shiver with a sole glance, and his skin was wrinkled in distaste at her, making her wonder what was the point on coming if he was probably going to be rude at her. She could see the threatening sharp blade of a thousand knived being pointed at her, grazing her skin tentatively as all she could do now was move forward or back down to her dorm.

And there was no way he would let that man shrink her so much. "You never answered me."

He was clearly expecting something better from her from the way his arms crossed and his eyes looked plan red again, no longer aggressive. He sighed, making emphasis on his voice being scratched over in resignation. "Answer what?"

"I asked you about the ban, the other day." both could recall that moment. "All you did was push me away." yeah, they could remember that, too.

He looked at her, pointedly, his eyes narrowed and teeth showing under a grimace. "It is none of your–"

"Except the fact that it actually is, Bakugou." remarked she, smashing his words into nothingness as her frown grew deeper, more severe and a different spark emerged in her chocolate eyes. "I am a member of this guild who had no prior information about it being an illegal mission– yet I went there and sorted out part of the business."

"I don't know if you are trying to be fucking humble for the sake of saving face, but you did pretty much everything." before she could jump at his throat with some bullshit about cooperation, he growled at her. "You did, end of story. And it's not like you would have made us stop when we were in the middle of the battle, we are not some wuss losers."

Her arms crossed on her chest, and he felt a little bit mocked because it seemed like she was mirroring him, but in a smaller scale. "True." condemned Uraraka, eyes squinted in accusation. "But I still would like to know why I ended up cooperating in an unauthorized mission."

"Some fucker must have been feeding you lots of data if you are so nosy about it now." murmured him, more like spat to her, but her posture didn't falter a single heartbeat. His eyes still held the same anger and disorder as always, and hers were as strong, yet brilliant as always. "And I am pretty curious to know what they exactly told you to make you even doubt that our decisions, as leaders, are the best for our guild."

Bakugou referring to the leader team as an us made her heart flutter in pure awe, because it seems like the only one who respected Midoriya enough as a leader was actually his sworn enemy. Again, all she did for now was push it aside. "They just told me it was for the greater good of an important mission, but that's something that I don't know about, either."

The ashen blonde shifted under the moonlight and was reminded that, again, she was no stand-by member, for better and worse, and he would have to deal with her meddling around as long as she belonged to the guild. This thought caused his next sentence. "I don't know why you assume you will be partaking on the mission. You are in no condition to put up a decent fight yet."

He was so vigorous and obnoxiously disgusting to the human ear that she flinched at the venom aimed for her, and mentally dodged his spears. "I will always take part in whatever important voyage this guild has to do, handicapped or not." he could have spoken right then, denied her all rights to even proclaim herself an incorporated member as she was too new, fresh and dangerous for them– but somehow knew her rebuttal would come in anyway. "So since I will be going with, I would like to know what we are facing that made us get a ban on our heads, and how it was worth it."

"Don't you dare be sassy with me, because remember that I fucking rule this guild, Uraraka. One snap of my finger will have your head chopped any second I wanna."

"But it's not like you'll lose a valuable– _powerful_ member of your guild, right?"

"Do you think I'm stupid or anything?"

That was Bakugou talk for a bland refusal, which she could easily read. Yes, she was a threat to them, but also a valuable asset for them as he himself had very well said when they met. For now, all he could do was be patient with her until they could get that boulder off the road.

"Then answer me."

Bakugou looked at her, and even though he was clearly towering over her and aware of her knowing this– it all made him respect this woman maybe a tiny bit more, but this time as a person. Her perserverance in the battlefield, while reckless and stupid, was evident and worth praising. Still, it's not like he would be giving her the pleasure of giving her positive backup when she still lacked as a guild member. He _had_ invited her to the guild– but it had been only done to measure her and keep her under watch.

Yet, that Uraraka… he had this terrifying inkling that it was only matter of time until she was a full-fledged member of the guild. Her skin was thin as porcelain but tough as steel, and while she was made of the same materials as him, they were faces of a varied planet, separated by the moon that hovered over them and the sun that slept under the night's tombstone.

The whistle of the silent, peaceful night only made his focus on her be sharper, and all he wanted was for her to be dead, gone, out of his sight– yet another part of him was curious to see what those hands of hers could do with given time.

Bakugou sighed on defeat, and stepped to the railing, leaning over on his elbows. "Yaoyorozu must have told you all about the timelines and all that stuff." there was no need to look; he could tell by that stubborn hum of hers that she knew all about it, maybe even more than he did. "I also hope she gave you some warnings about the whole ordeal. It's a fucking mess."

Uraraka didn't copy his pose, but stood looking over the railing with a determined frown, but it was curt and weak. It didn't take long for her to sigh. "Yeah, it was all a bit messy. But she did tell me she believes it ties to a single mastermind behind it all."

"She's pretty fucking crazy to believe that, but I shamefully believe the same." explained he, making these weird signs with his hands that only showed how deep in shit he was about that particular issue. "We have been chasing after what we believe to be one of this fucker's tools, or peers, or however you may call it."

"So, there is more than one person behind it all, then?"

Bakugou sighed and rubbed his face with stress, muttering curses to his hands. "See, this is why I didn't wanna do this with _you_ , because I have little fucking patience and you are damn slow."

"I am new here, go out of your way to understand the struggle."

Three exact seconds passed before he was able to crash the block and talk again without sounding too annoyed, hassled, or before letting out an explanation heavy in curses. He wouldn't drop that low and pollute her naïve fairy ears. Bakugou had no patience, and giving such information was always Midoriya's role– he never, ever, had to do these things, and it turns out he would have his first go with the most despisable person on the guild right now.

Or maybe it was because he was too tired to even be comprehensible. None of that mattered now, all that he could concentrate on were her sparkling eyes and the traces of another earful on the tip of her tongue– and god, didn't he hate her for feigning to have the upper hand when she was no more than a fairy with the heart of a madman.

"There is this monster called RampAge, living at what we call the _corner of the civilization_ – a place we don't really know, but we are starting to cross out some damn stupid options that other shitheads have been offering." he looked at her to see if she was following the explanation, and she seeemed good this far. "It is what we deem to be causing some temporal disruptions among with that fucker who is doing the time travelling thing."

"So, there _are_ two enemies involved in this." Bakugou glared at her furiously, thinking that being proven right was all that mattered now for her. She stiffled a laugh in. Yet, a part of her had been coated in trepdidation for this terrifyingly sounding monster– it would only catch up with her later that night. "Sorry. But yeah, I get it. So apart from this major enemy, we have RampAge to deal with as well?"

The ashen blonde sighed. "Again, took you long enough. I didn't know that you sorcerers were also slow apart from fucking terrorists."

Uraraka fumed in pure exhasperation at him, hands on her hips with her nose wrinkled in disgust– it seems like that out of nowhere remark had cut deep in her, but Bakugou didn't feel that proud about it. "Drop the act already, Bakugou."

"I thought it was clear that it's not an act." he turned to look at her, a hand resting on the stone railing. His nose was also scrunched in pure hatred for the girl who he couldn't still accept in the guild as a proper member. No way he would accept her so fast. "You are no more than a tool for me."

"For fuck's sake." he was impressed by her avid use of insults, even if it had been directed at herself mostly. "I don't know what to do to actually make you accept me in– and I don't mean physically, but I just hoped that after _inviting_ me over you would give in a little."

"I don't see the difference between RampAge, that fucker out there causing all this mess, and a probable future you." he jabbed her on the forehead, teeth showing as he hovered over her with his arms now crossed, chest puffed– and damn her for thinking he looked terrifyingly male. "I can at least tame you under my hands, now that you are here. But trusting you is another whole story."

A little hum of displeasure came out of her squeezable throat, one he had almost sliced that day– yet, he hadn't, and he sometimes regretted that decision. "I still don't see what I can possibly do to make you accept me as one of your peers. Why would I stay here if I knew I would be under watch? If I were so evil, don't you think I'd be out of here?"

"For starters, you are still damn basic for a sorcerer. You know your basics well, and trust me I am aware of how much of a minx you are in the battlefield." clouds rolled by on them, but they didn't hinder the bloodlust in Bakugou's eyes as he stared down on her with a piercing grimace. Everything regarding her degrading role as a sorcerer escape his lips hastily, yet there was a newfound feeling at the tip of his fingers. "And that's exactly why I wanna train with you– a wimpy ass, but with potential."

"And that was another question I had for you."

A hand slammed the stone by his side, and his head was an inch too close for her liking. His smile was wicked, yet it had no glee or meaning behind. It shook her bones and chilled her to the deepest core of her being. "You sure are asking shit tonight."

Uraraka pretended not to be affected by his proximity, and leaned a little bit back to mask the shake of her eyes. "Maybe because I am curious as to why you would wanna make a little sorcerer like me grow into that very same role of a terrorist."

Bakugou pulled away a little, the thrill of menacing her long gone as she posed that important contradiction. In retrospective, asking that question was all but favorable to her, but it also made him realize that she knew what she was to others' eyes, and it only made him think more about what was going on inside that stubborn head of hers.

"Because I am willing to shut my mouth about it and give you a half-assed chance to prove yourself." he instantly regretted those words and wondered why he always regretted every decision he made regarding her. Bakugou saw her eyes light up in hope, and he would admit It wasn't an ugly thing to see. "It's not like I'm gonna give you my trust, which I sure think won't be happening, but I at least wanna see if I did well when I invited you over."

"As in," he dug his hands in his pockets as she stared into the infinity, putting the pieces together. " _accepting_ me?"

"I seriously don't wanna do it." he didn't. A pair of minutes ago he was in the very same spot, three times less vexed than now, thinking straight and not willing to accept that damn sorcerer into their lives. "And I swore to myself that I wouldn't. But you protected my people back there, and that's something I can give some fucking credit to."

Her pure, brown eyes melted against his still ones, swirling and embracing the embers of his incandescent coals, eating her heart like a wolf and still referring to her as an equal on some degree, yet stomping on her dignity like an avalanche. Both worlds were turned upside down in distress, discord and utter chaos at the sight of the other, his muscles clenching in menace and hers clenching in anticipation and horror for his teeth, those fangs that sucked her blood and drank from her misery.

Every time she blinked, a tornado of fury devastated his heart, and made him wonder, again, why that slut was still alive. "You still basically put me on the same level as RampAge and time-travelling foes."

"Because I do think you can do the same harm at those bastards, therefore you are in that very same stage as them for being a misleading bitch." she should be surprised at his bold choice of words, but couldn't really find the words to lash at him because he was right on some degree that she could be named as such. "So when I say acceptance, I say that I am willing to push that stuff aside for the sake of both my people and my guild."

Her eyes widened as saucers, blown wide and seeing how something as automatic as rushing to her companions' side had somehow awakened a human side on him, and galaxies of gee and hope bloomed on her beady eyes. A little smile curled on her face as she clutched her shawl. "Are you… really?"

When he heard her warm up so quick when she should always be terrified of him like his people were– something snapped. He wasn't to be considered kind or gentle, but rash and a fucking beast, because he didn't do things smoothly and he'd make her walk through hell and back to show her so. "That ain't mean I am gonna forget about it. It means that instead of considering you a fucker, I will consider you more of a sucker like the others. But I think that the terrorist tag will still hang on you– all I gotta see is if that will play in our favor or if you will end up backfiring on us."

Uraraka nodded in comprehension. It turns out that all she had to do was find a way to flip that hard, rusty switch over to make him see her in the true colors some people were starting to see in her. Bakugou gave her the feeling that if she found the way to make him realize the good she had in her and her intentions, the whole guild would embrace her as well. Acceptance– that was her challenge and game now.

"Right." condoned she, looking at his relaxed leaning form and how the cape rode the air that danced between their bodies. "And when will we be starting the bonding training?"

And there he was again, tense and irritated as he was by force of nature. "Oi, don't give it such a misleading name, Uraraka! All we gotta care for is your growth now that the final showdown against RampAge is coming." she nodded, again, and her hair bobbled with every move of hers and it was driving him up a wall. "I'll be going to a dungeon tomorrow. I'll let you tag along for this once."

"Thanks for the blessing, _mister_."

"What did I say about being sassy?"

Uraraka giggled and looked at him one last time. Her irises blinked on his unfocused ones, and then those red lights of his found their way to hers, and they shone in curiosity for her as hers did for him– and it sparked something weird in him. He hated her so fucking much, that damn midget. His breath always grew overly angry whenever she was near, and his brain would break down in ire if she passed by him an inch closer than necessary. Her world would sometimes get too mingled up with his, butterflies mixing with bats and spiders, and somehow, her sunshine would always prevail over the solitary moon of his heart.

And it seems like her sun had dug its way up the tombstone of his heart, too. Uraraka retreated from the balcony, grasping the thin fabric of her little shawl. "I think it's time for me to go to sleep." she would have patted his shoulder goodnight, but it would have meant taking boundaries too far. "Sleep tight, Bakugou. I'll see you tomorrow."

Her soft words were taken away by the wind, by the deaf swing of a door shutting close, but there he stood– and the moment her presence faded away, the meaning of the promises of acceptance he had made came crashing down on him, and it dawned on him that It was too late to take them back.

Because, somehow, the moment he accepted her into the guild, he was growing weak for _her_ – a terrorist, the person he hated the most in this cursed world of unfairness and violence. Yet, she was there, standing in the rain like it was nothing, and he couldn't stand the fact that the world spun madly around her without making her dizzy, fazed, or that she seemed invincible to the naked eye of a dark boy, isolated in the darkness of his own untrust. He absolutely despised that fake innocent girl who could pin them all down with her pinky, yet pretended to be a child who knew nothing about the atrocities that this world held.

He hated _liars_.

He _hated_ her.

Yet, a part of his heart had been too weak tonight. And the moment he started giving in, he knew there was no going back.

* * *

"Hey, girl, get back here!"

The little chubby child ran all the way to the awaiting adults, who held silver buckets full of water on a stone well. Her hands flew wild above her head as she squealed all the path to them, and stopped on her tracks to glance up to them from under her lashes. "I am here, sir!"

One of the men knelt down by her, clawed hands messing with her hair as they usually did with a smile, which had ended up making her giggle. "It's father, child." she titled her head a little, then remembered. "I am your _father_."

It was obvious this man was not her father– his skin was too pink, eyes too black while her skin was fair, hair messy in brown and eyes a slain clean chocolate. Still, her toothly grin as she nodded brought satisfaction to her adoptive parents, who handed one of the buckets to her. "Take this to that house," he pointed at a stone and golden house, to which the little girl nodded. "and bring the bucket back to us as soon as possible."

Her hands reached out for the well, and tried to pivot herself up the stone structure mutteirng a little "giddy ap!" that she recalled to have been an inspiration when she lived… somewhere, a far off memory of scattered faceless people until her parents, these parents, had come to rescue her, months ago. One of the adults laughed and grabbed her small body until she touched solid ground.

"You sure can't control your impulses yet, Nameless." the brunette pouted, but smiled again brilliantly when she was handed one of the buckets. "Take them over there. Hurry, honey!"

The girl took some steps back before dashing off with the bucket grasped on her head, giggling with wobbles of her head, water splashing around her as it danced disorderly out of the brims. Her run came to a halt as she found a familiar red head sulking at his doorstep, so she let the bucket down and waved at her friend.

"Harold!" the boy looked up and grinned at her, running down the stairs to meet her. "Harold, gimme a ride, please!"

The young boy knelt down and wiggled his hips so he could hoist her up. "It will be a pleasure, ma' princess! Your horse Harold will give you a ride!"

Nameless took the bucket full of water – correction, not so full anymore – and put it on her head again, screaming in childish joy as the boy ran with her on his back around his house. "Harold, take me to house number four!"

"Your words are orders for horsey Harold!" the red head raised his fist and shifted her behind him with a roar. "To house numba' four!"

The two children ran their way to the neighboring stone house, a few blocks away from horse Harold's residence. Most houses were small, modest, almost prehistoric and primal, but everyone had a roof to rest under when skies were gray and days were warm, placid, breezes pushing the rain away from the sun as children laughed under the sunshine of blooming sunflowers and fluttering butteflies of youth.

Harold and Nameless eventually reached the house, and he carefully let her down from his back as the brunette spotted a friend of theirs and ran clumsily to her, dodging stones and making water fall over. "We are here!"

The pink haired girl, one who was clearly a descendant from this village of a foreign species unlike Nameless and Harold, who clearly weren't– she smiled brilliantly at them, rushing to their side. "Thanks a lot for the water! Come check this out!"

The other two children squatted before the little mount of soil that their friend had done. "I'm trying to plant some seeds here, like my parents told me to! I bet lots of flowers will bloom from this!"

Nameless and Harold gawked at the mount, waiting for the plant to blossom with excited smiles and blinking irises. The other girl coughed and eyes them warily. "Don't be weird, they will obviously take long to flower! I'll show you inside!"

The red head dashed after the girl, but the brunette only stared at the planted seed until, eventually, she snapped out of it all with a rub of her eyes. When she looked up again, the alien girl and Harold were waiting for her, and Nameless laughed as she ran to them. "Wait up," she breathed in and giggled while reaching out for the door. " _Mina_!"

* * *

"Uraraka, stop following me already."

"I'm not following you." pouted the sorcerer behind the leader, eyes glistening with malice as he glared behind. "As you put it last night, I'm tagging along."

"You're so fucking determined to make me regret every decision I make these days, aren't you?"

The brunette looked around her, and the scenery didn't seem as towering and menacing as it had been some days before. The forest was, by nature, green and humid, crusts of dead wood fallen on the ground and crunching beneath Bakugou's mad boots, and there were great possibilities for an unlucky encounter with bandits camping around the wilderness. Still, the ashen blonde walked straight forward, shoulders heaving as he heard her pestering a meter behind him– he knew the way to the nearest dungeon and if there was anything he needed in that moment, was to plunder some caves and haunted refuges.

Her presence had sparked unease in him. The many responsibilities that hung from her heart and lashes were too many to count, carrying that heavy aura of importance, terror and yet sheer glitter with her. He knew it shouldn't irritate him so much that she had decided to go hunting with him, as he had stated that he would try to get used to her, but it was so damn hard to keep that oath with the heavy rain she brought with her. A blaring terrorist banner hung on her back and it was inked in her fair skin, a so smooth skin that sure held many bruises and self bites beneath the layers of innocence.

His eyes blared behind him to see her falling into step with him, looking around her with wonder and that placid smile of hers that he couldn't bring himself to get used to. She herself was abnormal and stupid– stupidly powerful, stupidly deceiving, and such a bitch. Still – this was a reminder he did to himself everyday in a mental note about why he shouldn't kill her – she had protected his people, protected the installations of the guild, and just… taken responsibility. That was the only thing that kept her alive now.

"Say," started she once he had looked away, and Uraraka watched him slash some vines out of the way. She had to clumsily brush the remains away. "when you meant training and tagging along, you sure didn't mean to trash me here and hope for me to survive, right?"

Bakugou stopped for a second and turned his head to look at her, red flashing in front of her as his teeth shone under the trees' shade. "Oi, what kind of scum do you consider me to be? Not like it would be a wrong riddance, mind you."

Uraraka smiled kindly at him, but he could clearly see how mischievous her intentions were. He continued walking forward, and the girl found joy in seeing the spots of sunshine take shape along his disarrayed mane. "You tried to kill me the very second day."

And the leader smirked, because it wasn't something he really regretted doing and, while he ended up giving her the mercy she perhaps deserved, Bakugou had sure enjoyed those moves of hers. At least, most of them. "It's not like I fucking regret the fight. If you were just a bit less of a wimp, your shoulder would be fine now."

"Whatever." condoned Uraraka, and he could picture her crossing her arms like the little child she was. The blonde snickered, and swatted the vines away again. "Where are you taking us?"

Bakugou jumped over a tree trunk, making Uraraka want to do the same for the sake of imitation and making a decent impression. The moment her feet touched the ground, her soles slipped on a polished stone and almost fell over, but the short-tempered boy paid no heed to her clumsy shoes. His back had tensed upon mentioning their objective, the hairs of his neck snapping as his boots seemed to stomp harder on the mistreated soil.

"There is this dungeon around here that those fuckers from Grinning Blade take pleasure on pillaging." explained he, licking the memory of catching them all in the act and relishing on the future prospect of seeing them suffer his wrath. The sorcerer saw how vicious his tongue had flickered those words, and an uncomfortable sense of danger ran down her back. "It has pretty damn good resources, and I will just have a fun time taking it away from them."

Bakugou leaped over a small stream of water, trying not to wet his boots lest they slipped later with the polished pavement of the caves. Uraraka shamelessly stepped over it, boots splashing and the blonde wanted to curse for her lack of precaution. Yet, she beat him to the chase. "Sounds pretty legal from you, to conquer other people's zones."

"Watch the sass, Uraraka." threatened he, eyes glaring at her briefly before focusing on the path ahead again. Birds chirped above the leaf ceiling of the forest, casting some shadows on Uraraka's eyes. She looked up to the clear casket of trees and sighed to put herself together. Every single time his eyes loomed over hers so heatedly, her stomach would shrink in trepidation for what tricks he would pull out– the feeling had been lessening little by little, but it remained in an intricate chain of chilling emotions. "They have done this many times before, it's almost like a tradition."

"Yeah, I had guessed your relationship with them wouldn't be so healthy if–"

Bakugou was quick to clutch the big, wide sword on his back with a mid turn of his body, grimace curling his angular jaw into a clenched unsightly beast. Turns out she had touched a soft spot in him and this was the first and last time she'd really regret it. "Don't assume we are not civil with them even if we are fucking champions of the village. We have been plenty kind with those losers."

Talk about kindness while insulting them– such a nice thing of thing to do. "That's not what I meant to say." he was still grabbing the weapon, ready to smack her with it if her words weren't quick and intelligent. "Jack and I crossed paths with their leader– Shinsou, was it?"

Wrong choice. Bakugou started to take the sword out of the ropes on his back, and the sharp edges of it grazed the ground in horrifyingly precise gentleness. His feet worked their way near to her until their bodies were close enough for him to be hovering over her shrunk, impatient and stupid body. "You're wearing my patience damn thin. You have been seeing that bastard?"

Uraraka felt her eyes widen, take in the sight of a maniac with a weapon looking at her with narrowed eyes, red knocking chocolate out of the stratosphere to only fall through her stomach and make her take a little step back, smile apologetic and hands up. Those sun cores of his soul, such a royal mirror of his swirling rage… her heart pounded to the dance of his flames. "No, no! That guy looked scruffy as hell, no one in their right mind would hang out with him. At least, that's what I feel."

The weapon lingered around her a bit more– and his eyes still flickered between a wide catalyst of emotions as the steel touched the leather, brushing her boots until he finally put it back in place, on his back. But his eyes still felt erratic and wrong to the rookie view.

"Yeah, well." Bakugou coughed, eyes roaming around her outwardly unfazed expression – it made good work to hide the trepidation she felt inside of her – and, after he was fed up with seeing her so damn resilient to hold her ground against him, he recoiled from her space. "That guy is an asshole, and probably near your class."

"Class as in, _profession_? Or do you mean my super terrorist crew of criminals?"

The sarcasm was so heartfelt and offensive that he couldn't find patience enough to snap at her without killing her in the spot. He then remembered that she did actually realize his struggle, and the feeling of unease felt a bit lighter. "He is a borderline, potential criminal. A sorcerer that seems to know where his badshit crazy priorities lay. You at least try to hide it."

Air was knocked out of her lungs as soon as those words made their way to her ears, drilling and drilling in a very uncomfortable way knowing that there was, apparently, someone with ill intentions who managed a whole guild– a runner up, for that matter. And no one was stopping him. "Do you mean–?"

"Yes, Uraraka, _yes_." he was mentally calling her all kinds of intelligence-degrading terms and Uraraka managed to feel offended when she saw the snarl of his face, the scowl of impatience. This man managed to flip her switches – from anger to annoyance, then intimidation and sudden peace, sometimes. Uraraka absolutely _hated_ that effect of his. "He has some gruesome methods to change the fates of our fucked up timeline– y'know, like fix it or something."

The brunette could see where the path was leading, and was afraid to pry on the subject any longer. Still, her heart tugged for her to ask more, so she did. "And what's so wrong about that?"

The unknowing play of her words made the boy stop walking, but he didn't turn to look at her. It was the very first time Uraraka saw him idle and so conflicted about how to put his thoughts into words meticulously, like he had the day before at the top of the clock tower– but this time, this seemed to hold more weight on the long run, so he tasted the metallic truth before spitting it out like blood in a tough battlefield.

"Rumor has it he has been seeing rogue bandits in search for time travelers, to seek time bending. He may plan to play with the chords of time or fucking twist them like the bastard he is." yeah, judging by her face, the notion of danger floating a few months away, or maybe only days– it had dawned on her too. "I don't trust that guy. He is the nearest thing to a criminal I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, and he apparently doesn't give a shit about anything else."

"You feel he intends to… destroy the timeline for the sake of being powerful?"

The boy grunted his response, anger shivering in her steaming eyes even more passionately than ever before. "I have no fucking idea of what is beyond timelines and stuff, if there is some kind of heaven or a black pitch for sinners like him." so much venom in his words blinded Uraraka, who stepped a bit nearer to him albeit hesitant to even breathe the same air as him. "But I'm sure that all these disruptions with our timeline will end when we defeat RampAge and the fucker that is behind all of it."

"Wait, hold on." he didn't. His step only quickened under the pressure of her impatience. "But is this all about Shinsou being a criminal official? I don't mean to be rude, but it's not fair to accuse him of being something he isn't."

No weapons were drawn to her throat, but his eyes pierced daggers on her stronghold heart. "Are you saying you _relate_ to him?"

Uraraka frowned at him, disbelief written in her eyes. "Of course not! It just surprises me that such terrible rumors are spread so carelessly." that made sense in his mind, so he let her carry on. "Hasn't it drawn the attention of the Council?"

When she hurried to his side, instead of kicking her out of there, Bakugou just glared at her from the corner of his vision. "Do you even know what the Council is?"

The girl blinked a few times before smiling guiltily at him, for which he sighed with impatience. She sure was a hassle– forget all he said about not being uneasy around her shitty glitter stupidity. "Well, I saw this– Yamada, was his name. And this person called Yagi that belonged there, too? I just have this vague idea that it's a round table of some sorts." again, the blonde, groaned. "Christ, no need to be so vocal about your hatred towards me."

"That's not it." his steps slowed down at the little inch of vision he had in the mist of the vast wilderness, then heard a noise that made him immediately stop and shoot a hand up to stop her behind his body. "I hear something."

The sorcerer tiptoed to his side, still remaining behind his stretched arm. Bakugou had clearly heard this, after all he surely spent lots of quality time around the forest– but Uraraka had to make a little effort to distinguish the noises ahead of them from the brush of leaves, birds chirping and a river flowing nearby. When she finally focused enough, eyes closed and nose wrinkled in disbelief, there was chatter, maybe a grunt–

A piercing screech was heard ten meters ahead of them, at what Bakugou would reckon to be the entrance of the dungeon, but he didn't flinch as much as Uraraka would have expected him to. The brunette was stiff in fear for whatever foe waited there, staff readied in her hands as words flew clumsily out of her mouth, dry and loose. It had been a pitched scream, grazing the limits of danger and fear that didn't only boom across the trees, but it also stabbed Uraraka's confidence. Such scream could only come from a bloody corpse, full of fear until it had been shattered, shredded to rotten pieces of meat with broken–

"Stop freaking out, bitch." his words were rash, but effective to interrupt her crippling, escalating fear of whatever foe lay ahead. "It ain't anything you should be losing your shit over."

"How can–" the leader slapped a hand to her mouth, narrowing his eyes to her to simply shut her up, signaling to the source of trouble with a lazy nod. Her voice lowered a few notches as his hand came back to pull his sword out. "How can you be so calm? We have to go help them!"

"Uraraka."

"That was no regular scream!" she tried to round her way around him to walk on, and tried to make out any shapes that could give away the identity of the offender– but there too many vines in between them, the path to the clearing hidden by a maze of lianas and leaves. Her eyes tried to make her statement clearer, but it was to no avail as he still regarded her lazily with irritation. "C'mon, stop standing there and help me–"

The moment she tried to go past him, his sword was drawn in front of her, blades daring to slice her stomach in half if she dared either cross the path or interrupt his next orders. A shadow came to cast his eyes into a deep glare that craved all kinds of atrocities in her. "Can't you be a little bit clever for once?"

Uraraka put a hand on the blade – softly and gingerly as to not cut herself, sparking a moment of surprise for Bakugou as she pierced her decisions on him. "Lower this thing down."

"Fucking listen for once." the blade inched closer to her, as he locked a sideways gaze with her. Her orbs trembled once, twice, until she blinked and sighed, hand coming down from the weapon. "You don't live here, nor know these fuckers' ways. Shut your mouth and listen." Bakugou let the sword drop down once she nodded and stepped back, but the sword was still in his hand as both a warning and a measure for caution, just in case anybody decided to ambush them. "Those losers from Grinning Blade enjoy making human traps so people just run to their sides for some half-assed rescue. Kirishima fell for that shit once."

"Kirishima?" his silence was enough response for her, his arms tense as he rewinded the sharp memory of an injured companion going on and on about what ways they had against him. It wasn't a pleasant memory, and only Uraraka could be enough of a bitch to remind him of that. "Did he get hurt?"

The boy chuckled with no humor, eyes frowning at her from a side as she stared at the path ahead, something along the lines of flaring caution, a bit of fear and bravery covering it all– it all engrossed him into a mental lecture of her eyes, the way she got points across with a single glance, and how she was somehow failing to hide a little crack in her armor from him, dense and slow with emotional shit. The fact that the picture of an injured pal had affected her spoke volumes about her.

Again, he was torn between deeming it to be a good thing or a bad thing, but that discourse was to be taken care of any other moment than this. "Kirishima is, luckily, no wimp ass. He took care of the matter damn fast, but the scare was still there."

Uraraka nodded, gritting her teeth at the mistake she had almost done. She would have to learn from these little things and grow some patience before jumping into conclusions quickly. A point was clear though: Grinning Blade was a whole different ballgame to a joke. And Bakugou was more aware of this than anybody. Was this maybe why he was so adamant on hating their leader?

The sorcerer focused on the road ahead, the touch of cold steel under her fingers reverberating with more vigor than ever as the thrill of what awaited for them behind overtook any feeling of distress. Regardless, a pinch of worry was well hidden underneath that mask of innocence and crumpling stone. "Then, what should we do?"

Bakugou took some steps forward, Uraraka staying behind this time in wait for a cue. "I'd say we are good to go." the blonde waited for her to catch up. Her step was more hesitant than before, hands shivering ever so slightly, but her eyes were fired with bravery. It was an unnerving display to watch; she had never shown any traces of a faint heart before, so what was she shaking for?

Uraraka was too focused on keeping up with the leader to even realize that he was seeing right through her. Her mind was lost in a cloud of doubt, anticipation and trepidation for what kind of person would be waiting for them– if it was the leader of that damned guild, they were in serious trouble. He was a sorcerer as well, one with more skills and knowledge than her, and his ideas didn't seem to be remotely close to sanity. Upon closer inspection, the man beside her was pondering this thought as well, as he was outwardly agitated.

However, something was wrong with the picture. Uraraka guessed that he must have easily assumed this chunk of information, or had either come to terms with it long time ago. Thinking about it, considering his hatred for that leader, this rumors were old and already glued to his mind, leading his stride to the place to be agitated, feisty, enthusiastic. Regardless, his eyes held an unsettling tranquility crowned with a frown of decision, his head titled forward– and she could already see it, the blood running down his arms as his chest heaved back and forth in front of a victim, heart soaring for the beast he had become and–

Her step haltered, breath hitched and jumping awkwardly inside her chest. Her deft fingers clutched the neck of her uniform as the dead images, stationary feelings of dread and fear attacked her heart aimlessly, eyes clenched in confusion as those sharp unwanted flashes threw her off a cliff to a sea of poking tragedies, unresponsive body spinning against the current as voids of emotion filled her throat, drowned her, and made her head squish in commotion.

The girl was overwhelmed, blinking to focus on the back of that man, blade of his gigantic sword twinkling under the shade of the high trees, sun looming above and throwing uneven smudges of orange on his scarred skin. His calmness, the recklessness against an international threat, his fatality, the fire burning from his fingertips far away from her ice cold ones– and suddenly, the abyss was intolerable, but she walked forward nonetheless.

He truly was a monster, wasn't he?

Bakugou slapped some leaves away with his sword and hands, peeking some clearance around the entrance of the dungeon. His step was assured, filling the enormous place with his dominant scent and presence, so similar to the one of a lion or a bigger foe than Pyrox had been back in time. His eyes sharply turned to meet hers. "The path's clear. Don't go tripping on thin air, got it?"

They stepped out of the wilderness to be met with a clear spot in the forest, the only thing standing there being a little stone building, two floors tall, decrepit, with vines swarming its walls and debris decorating its creaked steps. Silence hung low in the air, the only thing that was heard was the crunch of Bakugou's boots smashing pebbles to dust, and his cape flowing with the afternoon air. Uraraka fixated her eyes on his neck, trying to ignore the bad feeling she got from just standing in such bleak spot.

The blonde noticed her unease and turned, one feet on the first step of the dungeon. "The dungeon goes on underground. I ain't gonna look after you like some babysitter, so watch your fucking step."

The sorcerer breathed in deep, recovering all senses of bravery she had in her, and marched forward with her chin high. "I don't need your assistance."

The sorcerer breezed past him. The might that esteemed off every inch of her skin and notch of her voice coaxed a grunt out of him, but the prospect of having an entertaining member with him made the experience overall much more appealing to his incandescent eyes. He smirked at her waiting stance at the gate of the dungeon, went up the steps and brushed past her in the very same way she had done.

The moment she aimed to join him inside, her intentions died with the first step. "Oi, what's gotten into you?"

"I'm… not entirely sure." Uraraka turned around to face the clearing, stark naked of unwanted presences. No eyes were on her like her neck had registered, nothing pressed at her back or enemies glaring at her. The sorcerer rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Just… nevermind. It was nothing."

Bakugou crossed his arms, leaning on the doorway to the ancient passage. The girl took the chance to look around. The place was devoid of furniture, cracks adorning the floor and walls, with bars closing the windows and dark plants climbing up every inch of wet stone. Her boots could feel the instability of the building with a single step, and when she approached the closed door to the insides of the dungeon, it came as no surprise to see it almost crumbling down.

She looked at the leader, who still leaned smugly on the threshold of the blocked entrance. He stared back at her expectantly. "What the fuck are you waiting for?"

Uraraka's eyes flared in intensity and exasperation. Her eyes then scanned the stone gates, which sure could be opened with some kind of switch or spell, and gave it a small push to test the waters. "Why am I supposed to open the gates? Do you think I can smash it open?"

"Can you?"

"I _can_." answered she, and his shoulders raised in surprise. "But that's not elegant– or intelligent, for that matter." the blonde waited for her to go on, and the brunette sighed again. "If we leave the entrance blatantly open, enemies will come in freely and can ambush us easily." he didn't look that surprised, which made her raise an eyebrow. "But you already knew this."

"You're talking about it as if it were the smartest thing to say, but I've been a fuckton of times here. Don't come with the sass if you ain't gonna handle a comeback." Bakugou growled under his breath and pushed her aside with a harsh shove. "I'll be a damn gentleman and let you choose: you smash it or _I_ smash it."

Uraraka crossed her arms, staff swinging while she gave him the stalest glare he had ever seen. "Give me a reason to waste my stamina on such a measly thing like a switched gate."

Bakugou pounded the ground with his sword, cracking the floor with a twitching eye. His patience was running out the more snarky remarks she came with and he couldn't stand slow business when it came to dungeons. This was the reason why he most usually did plunders alone, so no smarty pants companion would go and question his methods. "First, because I am ordering you to do so. And second," he took an experimental step towards her, just to see how she'd react now against direct authority. He jabbed her forehead with his free hand, words full of frustration. "because this is your damn training and I'm not gonna do all work myself."

Uraraka realized his proximity when his words rung too close to her ears, when the violent shake of his threats reached way too close to her heart. She could hear and feel his breaths, and if she only reached out, she could grab his sword and stab him, leave him bleeding as a payback for their prior battle and flee. But pouncing would be giving him the pleasure of knowing he was above her, that he could berate her anytime he wanted, and she would never allow that.

The sorcerer turned swiftly to face the gates, her voice filling in the gap of his mistreated pride. Feeling obviously ignored, the leader growled again, gave her a withering look. The fact that she was willing to ignore him infuriated him, and he hated that. He hated her.

"You're right, I guess." Uraraka took a few steps back, and feeling the danger she supposed and inwardly acknowledging it, he did the same. He stood on the side of her line of attack, arms crossed with irritation for that little bitch. Not only was she a terrorist, but when she was given the opportunity to actually use it for his advantage, she refused. At least she was starting to give in a little. "Back off."

"Don't go shooting fireworks at me, Uraraka." spat he. She turned to glare at him. "And don't give me that fucking look. You aren't an ally of mine, you are not much different than a fucking villain to me." Uraraka shifted when he said that, poison shooting through his clenched jaw. "Don't take your confidence too far."

When he finished speaking, Bakugou was pleased to have made her react to his words, eyes a bit shaken and her pose less confident than before. She was no more than a fucking criminal to him, another one like Shinsou, a beast– but then, he remembered that, again, he had promised to change his ways towards her for the sake of the guild. However, his hatred for her wasn't like a switch: it couldn't go from a hundred to zero with the snap of a finger. She would have to work herself through it as well.

Bakugou was at least making the effort to not kill her. She could at least show some respect for him. Mischievous little pest she was, fuck her. His glare broke into her staff as she swung it around, as if she was stretching for a long run. The hunter started tapping his arms, impatient. "Oi, you gonna do anything?"

"I can't go around nuking a whole door without making the building fall down. I attack from far distances to wide areas, not the other way around." her face was constricted in a dangerous warning. "I am the only one who knows this struggle. You don't know me."

"For fuck's sake, Uraraka." he padded to gate, leaving Uraraka far behind him. Bakugou left his sword leaning on the wall as he gripped his right wrist. "Watch the professional doing your fucking tra–"

Something vibrated from within the dungeon, meters away from behind the stone gate. His hands faltered and ended up lowering until he was able to confirmate who was behind the door. "Bakugou?"

Yeah, he knew that voice. "Fuck." Bakugou quickly took his weapon and stomped all the way to Uraraka, who jumped at his horrifying glare of disgust– but for once, it wasn't really directed to her. He took her arm forcefully and dragged her to the entrance of the building, dropping her behind a fallen pillar. "You fucking stay here where you won't cause me trouble."

"But–"

"Just shut up." he frowned harder at her, gripped her shoulders and made her squat behind the debris. "You ain't good for this fucking situation. Stay there until I come back."

Her eyes stared into this with intention, brow wrinkled in disgust at his bossiness and lack of attitude, how ruse he was being and the blood boiling in those troublesome eyes of his, wrinkled back at her in a silent warning. Death was marring his intentions, looking at her the same way he did back in that rainy night of empty threats and silent seething– but this was different, it was pondering mixed with annoyance and stars crashing with her seas of innocence and wonder in a devastating mix of sparks and hatred for the other.

This time, it was Uraraka who conceded him to take the wheel. Her head turned to avoid his glower, and he silently thanked her for cooperating this once when things were critical. Uraraka was keen on cooperation and being helpful, but Bakugou had this capacity to nullify all her good traits and twist them in a violent manner that only made her mind sink deeper into its hatred for him.

This very same man made his way into the building again, sword drawn out and having it secured by his side in full knowledge of who he was facing against. His eyes came to meet Shinsou's bored purple orbs on him. Bakugou slowed his pace just to pour as much hatred as possible in one single stride. His enemy stood right in front of the now open gate, gloved hands shoved into his black pants, unimpressed at Bakugou's undesired presence.

"I can't believe you are still coming around this area." muttered Shinsou, tone unmasked as he stared at the blonde. "What's the point on coming to a pillaged area?"

Bakugou smirked humorlessly, teeth shining confidently at his opponent, who had one of his hands out in case Yuuei's leader wanted to act funny. "Cut the crap, asshole. You know what interesting business is down around here."

"All I know is that you are no more than a coward coming to an area my people have already cleared." his tone was clear, deep but much more poor in life than Bakugou's, whose fuse was being consumed the more shit Shinsou spat at him. "I'd be very thankful if you'd stop dropping by. And I wouldn't like to have a fight in here, in such decaying place."

"Ha." the hunter's sword was flung to his side, cape riding the waves of movement behind him. Light filtered behind the bars and shone down on his cape, gleaming and sliding down his muscular body like water down a polished stone. "Do you think I'd give a shit about wrecking a lousy building like this? I thought you knew your enemies better, purple."

"You sure are searching for trouble today. Was this day difficult for you?" Shinsou calmly took a flask of water out of his bag and took some sips from it. The leader discarded it far behind, and the crash seemed to boom among the echo of the deep dungeon. "As you wish."

Shinsou snapped his gloved fingers, and a fierce rain of steel arrows came to pierce his guts at amazing speed, surprising the blonde boy who had no time to cut them in half– and the tiny missiles would have made a number on him if a green shield hadn't stopped the arrows, which were stabbing the makeshift barrier as both leaders turned to the entrance.

Uraraka stood there, on the steps, hands clenched in focus as a hard twinge of danger danced in her chocolate pools. "Such a sneaky attack. Sorry for being a nuisance, Bakugou."

"Oh?" the barrier faded in thin air, and the arrows stumbled down with a clatter of wood and feathers. Bakugou smashed the darn goodies to pieces and he didn't know if he should be glaring at her for being sarcastic or actually admiring the way she had basically sneaked up on them and protected him. He decided the latter, because Shinsou's gasp of surprise was no better than his actual reaction. "And who is this, Bakugou? Have you gotten yourself a sidekick?"

Uraraka neared them, staff clutched in her hands with decided step and a changed direction of her heartbeats, escalating up the roof and soaring high above them as Bakugou regarded with a different gleam to his endlessly ire-driven lights. When she looked up, his heart also started twitching the tiniest bit– because she had protected not only his people, his guild, but also him as well. She hadn't even let her be trustworthy before she had gone and slammed a shield right in front of him.

It turns out Uraraka wanted to prove a point, as well. "I'm Uraraka." spoke she, tone gentle but wary of her opponent. "And I am far from being his sidekick, or a mere ally. But I belong to his guild now– his and _Midoriya's_ guild."

"Yeah, your face seems familiar." the brunette gulped nervously, but held her piercing glare pending in front of the other leader. "I saw you at the market with Jack– yes, the clumsy girl. I can see now why she'd be admitted in such worthless guild."

" _Fucking excuse me_." Bakugou pushed Uraraka behind again with an angry shove. That woman sure was a life saver at times, but she could also be a great hinder– and she did nothing good near Bakugou, who would start chopping Shinsou to pieces if his dirty tongue got close to spitting on his damn guild.

The blonde sneered at the man in front of him. "But our guild ain't first for nothing, loser. Most of your people isn't more than standby extras filling up space." he taunted the stone ground with the sharp blade of his sword, voice loud and clear, savage, smirk growing more wicked than before. "I still can remember you losers kneeling before us for mercy, praying for us to not cut your damn limbs off. You got no right to shit on our prowess when you can't even reach our ankles."

Shinsou looked over Bakugou's shoulder to see a still standing sorcerer behind, her staff settled on the ground between cracks as her stare was fixated on his eyes– and it was all the weirder for her, since this man had been spoken so highly of, yet his eyes were so dead, hard and emotionless. They didn't betray his fortitude or strong ideals, but the fact that they didn't express any power like Bakugou's did, or that they were so dead and focused on her all of a sudden– it _terrified_ her. The wall separating his heart and eyes was too thick, and if this man dared to make a breakthrough and make a display of power, the debris would be thicker and the impact, unfathomable.

A little chill escalated her delicate spine as his dark, musky tone dug into her ears. "Yuuei must be desperate if you guys are accepting sorcerers. The epitome of evil and disgrace, that pest you were so resolved to eradicate – but look, there _she_ is." Bakugou's breath hitched because Shinsou was attacking a foundation that he and Uraraka didn't even have, but he was most importantly questioning his decisions as a leader. The blade rose a bit higher, realizing that he himself doubted himself as well, sometimes. "Doesn't look that weak enough. The better for me, I guess."

"What do you even mean, you fuck–"

Uraraka's hand trembled up to touch his shoulder and he instantly froze at the feeling of her gloves on his skin. A part of Bakugou wanted to scream because was was hellbent on believing she had casted a super fast spell on him, something that would kill him the moment he took a step in any direction and she'd be laughing at his corpse, something so she could take over the guild and, later, over the world– but he let the thought die wordlessly as she came to stand by him again, and her hand was gone with the wind.

"I don't know what you even mean by me being useful to you." stated she, eyes closed for a second as she thought on how to place her words to win that bastard off the building. "But I can assure you that I will never join in whatever dubious schemes you have behind the village's back. I will never tire of saying that I will never break to that point."

Shinsou narrowed his eyes at her, tone alive now as he spoke what he thought to be obvious to the common people. "You are a sorcerer– a beast made to take over and rule the world with a single thumb." unlike the first time her power potential was tampered with, she didn't even flinch. "You were born to change the fates of this world, not to watch it all pass."

"I know."

"We are destined to fight for power, we are destined to change the course of times and fix what's broken." his words were passionate, yet dead and meaningless in Bakugou's ears. Judging by Uraraka's pensive expression, she was taking them in as he had the first time, and, deep inside, he prayed for her to be swatting them away. This investment he was making on her couldn't go to waste. "It's in our nature to create great things. Everybody knows that, including Bakugou."

Uraraka looked down, dejected, and the blonde tightened his fists because he should have fucking known he shouldn't have put the tiniest of faiths in that little minx who would be biting his lungs off when she got tired of pretending– pretending to be weak, to not want to achieve power by bending time. When did he even began to believe her–

"He will never trust you." added Shinsou, watching her squirm in deep thought. "No one will ever trust you. And you know that."

Uraraka's heart was beating fast– she had never thought that, in this time, space and day she'd meet somebody who spoke so deeply about power, about how focused his aims were while seeing worth in her, wanting her to change the world by his side in an unspoken manner. It made her grit her teeth as a tiny thought placed itself in her head, one she hadn't even considered.

What if he was right? What if his ways to fix things were actually right? What if by destruction he– he– she felt choked up as facts and conclusions pounced on her from behind, eating her and drenching her in cold, invisible sweat that made up for the hot anger she felt that overtook any thought in her head, and burnt all traces of doubt away.

"I know who I am– I know what most people expect me to be doing. I know what you, Bakugou and even the people from Yuuei expect me to do." this once, her talk wavered, quivered and thickened as the heavy weight of her thoughts and truths came to chase her enemies back, determination consuming her being. "But I don't give a damn about being able to bend time, to kill civilizations, or to drive people crazy. I don't aim to be the terrorist Bakugou fears me to be in the future. I know he will never trust me–" silence, deep breath, and Bakugou stared at her in well masked surprise and patience. "as long as I can trust myself to go down a good path to find a solution to this mess with my peers, then nothing matters to me."

Shinsou let out a heavy breath, a sigh of boredom and hopelessness escaping through his lips without him really wanting to sound so let down. And the way Bakugou was eyeing her– in respect, starting to swallow her whole persona little by little, it made it all worse. "You're chasing your own tail then, but you'll understand my point with time, _Uraraka_. Now if you'll excuse me."

Uraraka saw a flash of negative colors invade her whole vision, focus tunneled into one point that where his dead, unfocused eyes as the world swirled and all she could see, hear, or feel was a cold, dreary and looming voice whispering things to her ears, her feet scrambling into a world of roses and blues while lights flashed and blinded her, purple prevailing as the words were whispered over and over in a madness of echoes and colors–

Then, she felt hands on her shoulders and something slapping her hard on the face, which made the fuzzy colours fade to Bakugou's blood eyes screaming at her, her head wobbling as he shook her in anger and disbelief because Shinsou had fucking brainwashed her and he wouldn't have that fucker imprinting sensitive material into her little peachy brain. When he saw her blink, eyes no longer small and looking straight into him, he took the liberty to give her another shake.

"What the fuck, Uraraka? Did you seriously let that mother–"

"Did you just slap me?" Uraraka wiggled out of his hold while rubbing her cheek.

Bakugou snarled hard at her unaffected twinkle of eyes, arms crossed. The brunette saw that the psychotic leader looked relatively calm in the outside but his eyes were screaming otherwise– disruption, anger, irritation, unnamable feelings of madness and impatience. Also, it seemed like Shinsou was gone. "You were deep into that fucker's ability. I could have stabbed your shoulder again, thank me I was gentle enough."

Uraraka frowned at him as she rubbed harder on the reddened spot. "Yeah, thanks for being a real softie and not stabbing my insides out, such a hero."

"Don't make me slap you again, Uraraka." Bakugou turned to look from the open gates, prompting Uraraka to do the same. The darkness inside the dungeon seemed infinite, wind blowing from inside to tickle their courage. Bakugou found himself shaking his head in disappointment. "Yeah, this dungeon's taken for the week. Tough luck that guy got here earlier."

Uraraka's mind finally landed back in time as the notion of falling into a pitch, pain in her abdomen and water dampening her fingertips– the sudden notion fell away to nothing as she blinked to look at his retreating form, who was advancing out of the dungeon without throwing a single glance behind. Uraraka rushed to meet him at the stairs.

"I still don't understand… anything." muttered she, afraid of what remark about her intelligence he'd come up with. "Why did he use the scream bait at us if he was going to be so quick with the plunder and we wouldn–"

"Again, you're not seeing the big picture." commented he infuriatingly fast and sharp. "He probably saw that the dungeon had been cleared and decided to get the hell out before we even arrived, so he tried to delay us." she blinked up at him, and he could hear her heart thumping a meter away. "And I bet that brainwash was just a little remembrance present."

"Brainwash." she didn't question it, just welcomed it with a statement because Uraraka was sure they'd be seeing that guy again. "Well, it was not a pleasant present."

As they went down the stairs to the clearing, Uraraka heard a rope being tightened in the distance, making all those feelings of being observed wash over her once again. Her step slowed down, as did Bakugou's in pure instinct. "I hope he didn't imprint any nasty message in that sucker brain of yours. There's no need to make you a worse terrorist than you already are."

An empty smack of air rushed to Uraraka's ears, who instinctively took a leap to Bakugou's back and deflected the arrow directed at him with a swing of her staff, cracking the arrow with a might swoosh of power. The trail of power chased the trajectory of the arrow up the building and slammed its pressure on both the building and the ground below them with an empty smash, ground snapping to quake after the hit. The defensive counterattack had been too improvised, chaste and hurried for Uraraka to control.

The gust of dust and sand along with the deaf smack of magic beneath his feet made him turn around and see not only the broken arrows at the sorcerer's feet, but also a mysterious figure standing on top of the stone dungeon. Bakugou readied his sword again for a fight against this impertinent enemy, who was only staring at them once his plan to kill the leader had backfired. "Oi, who the fuck are you now? Be decent and show yourself!"

Uraraka stepped to the blonde's side, mouth in a tight line. Meanwhile, the attacker only stood and watched them, members of Yuuei quiet and ready for whatever attack that could come from this archer, but also whoever that could come from behind. The figure's silhouette was framed and hidden by the glaring sun, and the shade was gone with the wind as the offender took a step back and ran away, jumping to the forest with a busy rustle of leaves and branches.

"Who in the world was that? We can't let whoever that was escape!"

"It ain't worth it." muttered Bakugou, a mixture of anger and frustration eliciting a growl from him. Letting a foe off the hook so easily wasn't in his murderous unmerciful style, always efficient when it came to taking enemies out of the way. This time though, he let it fly. "There may be a whole gang of them deep in there."

Uraraka blinked at the sun in order to decipher how this person had fled into the forest from such a high building. The leader eyed the remains of the arrows suspiciously. "I guess you are right on that." the blonde knelt down to see the little projectiles with more accuracy. "What are you even doing now?"

"Tch." he was on his feet again, eyeing the arrows with this nasty glint of his that could drive a whole army off a cliff if he so desired, as if his hatred for the pieces of iron and wood were his worst enemy like Uraraka had once been– or most likely still was, after Shinsou perhaps. "We gotta get back to the guild. I'll have to report all this shit– fuck my life."

Uraraka couldn't read what his eyes spoke about, his words too vague and her too drunk with information and a new sense of emergency hanging on the clear ceiling of the sky, a sky they shared with countless criminals, Shinsou, and a whole universe of timelines, entangled complications and the everlasting question of the sorcerer's loyalty, her morality and if the spikes of ice beating inside her writhing heart were real, dangerous, and if Uraraka would remain by everyone's side. The more Bakugou looked at the arrows, he felt angrier, sicker, mind surging until he basically snapped.

The pieces of broken wood were burnt with a small bubble of fire, and the boy tasted the smokes with his fingertips as his frown only deepened. The sorcerer trailed behind the leader, eyes following the shadows of his cape as she thought that – maybe, just maybe, that person was the very same one she saw at the market the other day – but it somehow sounded too far stretched and sketchy, an association too strained to be true.

 _Right_? The pieces of the puzzle were scrambled on the floor, and it somehow seemed like the only one to solve the riddle would be her.

Her head shook in complete denial as Shinsou's last words to her, whispered to her soul in a private embrace all the while he left them without a single word spoken out, yet slapped on her with abrassing fire, a very same fire that beat inside Bakugou's eyes, his glare and all the trepidation carried with those little dropped words.

 _You'll understand someday, fairy with the clipped wings._

* * *

It turns out they didn't even have time to rest Shinsou's exposition off, because the moment they stepped into the village again, it was as empty as it had been the day Uraraka had first appeared. The feeling of rain falling on her was gloomy, as if stars had started falling down the sky and had shattered the mental ground she was in, remembering the grim bitterness of being soaked to the bone, yet still alive but with no life purpose or a place to belong in.

Yuuei had given her a reason to stay in that village– the leaders, the members, the sun and the moon had given her a place to stay. But when Uraraka saw that there was no one in the streets, a part of her resorted into an abyss. It was in the air, written in the skyline, hanging from the rooftops and slimming down every sewer and pebble stone. Irregularity and silence with a tinge of bleakness and blind danger drowned the buildings, its inhabitants, killed every flower and chirping bird.

This was no village. It was the very same ghost town that had stayed under the covers of the night during her talk with Bakugou, during every restless night in her dorms, watching the faraway rain fall and drench her heart in a tight embrace– vivid nights of loss, ubiquity and confusion. Aftershock would plunge itself deeper and deeper as it slammed unrecognizable feelings of oddity and darkness– it was all dark around her, foreign feelings harboring down into a remembranceless sea of bubbles, silence and dark steep abysses of so many questions left unsaid, unspoken, unanswered.

All feelings were blending together, mixing, twisting, until that was left in front of her was a thread of lost streets with no people, no soul– just the skeleton of a broken body. The rain… it was always so familiar, yet so foreign.

"What the _fuck_ is this?"

And in the middle of it all stood this ghost town, bricks missing from buildings, houses full of dust, cannon balls imprinted on some walls, trees falling apart– haunted memories of irregularity and despair that Bakugou was starting to realize with a start of a run, starting to hear noises and crowds banging on doors the more they ran to their guild, the nearer they got to the gates.

Right before they turned to the main street directing to the wall and gates, he pushed her to a side and changed directions, speed increasing. "If they see you with the village in this state, they'll think it was your damn fault."

Uraraka didn't argue his point, but was still torn in between trusting his measure to be good intended or thinking he was going to throw her into a dumpster. "Why should I trust you in this?"

"The real question is why should _I_ trust you with anything? You could take the opportunity to corner me into an alley, disarm me and tear my organs apart for some witchery sneaky business of yours." spoke he bluntly, breathy as he struggled to remember which alternative path led to the guild's secondary doors. "A part of me is fighting against it for my people's sake."

Yeah – she understood that – and a part of her was trying to put all his murder, blood and ire aside to try and see what hid behind those thick, heavy curtains he had around his weak heart. She was terrified of even peeking, afraid of being burnt with his death glares or his viscerous remarks and measures to keep her in place– yet, wasn't he afraid too? Afraid of the monsters she hid inside her closet while she was also intimidated by the destruction he carried with him, afraid of being blistered beyond repair.

"Thank you, Bakugou." the spiky boy turned to look at her, brows for once neutral when her smile came to view– and even if it was a small one, it was a step in the right direction. "For trying."

"It ain't gonna mean a damn thing until you actually show us you are valuable. Don't go around making misleading conclusions." because it wouldn't be easy, but the fact that he was going to at least try to not murder her was… nice, in a way. It shouldn't be so surprising, but Uraraka found herself smiling nonetheless.

When they finally exited the labyrinth of messy old houses and wet, dark streets, they found themselves running to the big barrier of the guild installations, the wall shining in all its glory with no disruptions to be seen, sunshine reflecting in every smooth corner to glorify the blessed territory. Uraraka squinted during their race to see a little gray door waiting for them.

"It's an emergency door. Only you would make us use it for such petty issue as a crowd." the leader gave it a good push with an ease that Jack sure hadn't displayed some days earlier. He went through first and waited for her to get in before closing the door behind them, and hurried to the center of the guild plaza.

All members of the guild stood at the entrance, making the two remaining members rush to see Kirishima struggling to keep the mad crowd at bay. "Please, calm down! We are still fixing to check all damages done around the area, be patient!"

Uraraka stopped her run by Yaoyorozu, hidden from the crowd by Tokoyami as the leader stepped forward to face the angry mass of people barricading at his damn guild doors. "What the _fuck_ is going on and where did you all pop up from?"

Midoriya looked at his peer and mused on the fact that his hands were reddened, bruised, and that Uraraka had just arrived with him. His eyes pierced his heaving chest, the irritation– but there was a little spark there, in a deep pitch of his endless galaxies of anger and disturbance. Something was clouding the aggressiveness off his glare, and replacing it with just exhasperation and impatience, now looking at Midoriya to find an answer that wasn't just senseless screaming from the villagers.

"Disruptions have started appearing–"

"I know, dumbass. I saw it all with my own eyes before." he then took out his sword again and flung it in front of the mass of crowds attempting to cross the threshold, successfully making them all step back as he pointed at them with a sneer. "What I don't understand is why everyone is here and not whining to the Council."

An elderly woman appeared in the middle of the line, eyes clouded by a gray fringe of disheveled hairs. "The door to my house is basically disintegrating! It's being bitten by something and it will sure be long gone by the time I get home!"

Another voice boomed from the back, hand shot up to point to the village at their backs. "Tons of blades have appeared on my restroom, and water has drained from the well at my neighborhood!"

Uraraka looked at the restless crowd of people as the listed off all their problems, some blurry in her ears as worry settled in. She heard Yaoyorozu hum in preoccupation, eyes glaring at the back of their animalistic leader. "This timeline… is growing weak. This must be RampAge's doing."

Yes, RampAge, the angry monster waiting for them at the end of the world while he was slowly eating all bits of the timeline and tangling everything with his slimy hands, waiting for the truth to crash on Uraraka was she just stared at the danger before it was even in front of her, but the feeling of being cornered by fear and– just the feeling of being small, the problem being too huge and her being just so, so tiny and useless. As another lost star in the horizon against the blaring sun of the morning, her spark faded away slowly, the burden was too heavy on everybody's shoulders.

People wouldn't see her as the solution, or a part of it– they'd see her as the fucking problem herself.

Tokoyami realized that she was behind him and took a step aside, arms crossed. The moment she looked up, her eyes met the dozens of those who stood in the frontline, and when they saw the wooden staff in her hands… disbelief fell down on her like a tsunami on the destruction fall. A man was first to call out on this fact. "H-Hold on, that's a–"

"A sorcerer! It's a sorcerer!" Yaoyorozu dedicated Tokoyami a fierce sideways glare, to which the bird boy only shrugged in defeat. "This must have been her doing!"

Kirishima was the first one to tread forward and chide them for such quick grudge. Uraraka saw then a variety of knives tucked in his pockets and a very fancy looking one pinned on his back. "Nobody here is allowed to badmouth anybody from our guild, sorcerer or not."

"How can we not do so!?" the elderly lady from before spoke up again, fists tight and her face scrunched in a frown. "We can't let that vixen get away with this crime! She's responsible for destroying our homes!"

It was not true. It was not true now, not before, not in the future, not in another place, not in another story – Uraraka would never attempt to destroy families, nations – but the mere accusation with such sharp edges and venom had her knees trembling, lip quivering as all she could hear was Shinsou whispering those words to her again while the whole world spiraled with their accusations, everything blending together to the rhythm of a parade with her head in their hands, blood splashing on the ground as they stepped forward and cornered her rotting corpse.

"She's no more than a scoundrel!"

"All go for her head, she's a _witch_!"

"No sorcerer shall–"

"SILENCE!"

Bakugou drove his blade straight into the ground, blade stabbing the stone like butter and cracking the pavement under his feet, making all his people's clothes sway with the wave of the impact, but Kirishima's knives were still out, Midoriya had the handle of his sword clutched as well– only Bakugou had lost his temper way before it was due. His glare was constricted, dreary, and incredibly defensive of these accusations that were directed to a member of his guild.

These guys– good for nothing losers were telling him he was wrong for inviting him over– a belief he was fighting against but people still wouldn't let him get over with. He took a deep breath, unaware of having Uraraka staring at him with her brown eyes blown agape at his fierce interruption, the heave of his shoulders and the way he was struggling to keep his cool against such accusations not only against her, but indirectly against him.

"You fucktards have no right to say anything about who I admit in the guild. For starters, she had been under my watch all the time, and I can assure you that if she had gone and done anything risky, I'd let you have her head to be impaled." he extracted the sword from the stone slot and directed the blade to the innocent villagers, who again recoiled from the enormous beast. "I won't let you doubt my expertise as a co-leader of this guild, which has saved your eyes countless time. We ain't stupid and we know when to cut off an investment."

The mob of people went silent for a pair of seconds, and the whole guild held in their breaths. They knew who they were dealing with, and this crowd was no easy group to handle. Another pissy villager was quick to speak. "But the fact that you are even calling it an investment is worth noting! Making blind investments on a future enemy like her is a reckless move to make in such critical moments!"

"He's kinda right on that one." Tokoyami sighed, eyeing the girl from the corner of his vision– and the sight left him a little petrified. Her head was titled forward in a new, more courageous way that had just immediately surfaced when she had needed Bakugou– her sworn enemy, the most terrible of thunderstorms, to rescue her from the vicious hands of a blob of unknown faces, their words cutting like knives but he had this time shielded her from them– shielded his guild from the accusations.

"We can't let this continue!"

He clearly had more to him than just simple anger to the world that dared push him down, so she took a step forward, and forward, closer to the people, closer to her enemies– eyes crunched into a venomous glare of defiance as she positioned herself just behind Bakugou, Kirishima and Midoriya.

"Look at her though, such a small thing." commented a woman to another, a man standing by snickering at the harsh truth. "One can blow her away with a little breeze."

"I can't believe the leader of this guild has let a traitor in!"

"This guild must pay for bringing the devil closer to our–"

"I think Bakugou has told you all to stop talking."

The three guardians turned to look at her, people's mouths falling shut as her eyes narrowed at them in distaste. Bakugou crossed his arms at her, ready for whatever trick she'd do to either screw up or knock those asses off their knickers. "I don't know where these biased opinions come from, but whoever that finds it suitable–"

The tip of her staff hit the ground with a hard slam, waking the dust from their slumber on the ground and blowing dirt away among with any loose pieces of clothing. "–shall come and prove themselves!"

"Oi, look at this thing being so pretentious and mighty!"

"Yeah, I bet I could take her anytime, man!"

Knowingly, the boys let Uraraka step nearer to the gates. Kirishima smirked at what he had called little lady when he saw her first, and hoped for her to prove him wrong again. Uraraka frowned at the crowd of people, chest puffed out and small lines of teeth showing behind those thin unharmed lips of hers. "It's fine for me then." her staff touched ground again, but only to make her statement clear as she put all her power and bravado in a single shot. "If all of you are so against me being here, so skeptic about my power, I challenge you all to _fight_ me."

"Is this girl craz–"

"I said," her staff was risen to the heavens above, and thunder clapped on the death of a clear day of sun, shadowing her eyes for a dangerous moment of menacing bestiality. " _fight me_!"

The crowds pulled away from the powerhouse with renewed fear sinking their expressions to a pale shadow of the smug shame thrown at her that she had not only annihilated, but also returned to every single doubting civilian. They still stayed, but at a safe distance, which made Bakugou step forward again to the wooden bridge with his blade in front of him. Midoriya accompanied him on the stride as his frown deepened – a gesture out of character for him.

"We won't repeat ourselves again: don't dare come to shame on our members without being ready to face consequences." Bakugou nodded curtly, nose wrinkled at them as Midoriya finished the discourse with a sharp response. "We will part as soon as possible to identify the source of this dilemma. Go to your houses and fight the war on your own for now, shall peace rest in your hearts."

Kaminari and Yaoyorozu quickly closed the doors as Mina took a pretty shaken Uraraka into the faculty, the poor sorcerer recovering from the high of such mighty confrontation. The ashen blonde glanced at the fidgeting sorcerer, eyebrows scrunched in meditation over the show she had put out.

Maybe... just maybe–

"Bakugou, we can't stand still now." the aforementioned turned to look behind and see Midoriya standing by Asui, and that was when he realized that everyone was pretty much looking at him in anticipation, desperate for something– a reaction, some kind of order to carry them out of the stump. "I think it's time to make a move. Delaying this won't make this any easier."

The hunter hissed, eyes closed in thought. The sword was put aside again. "Yeah, I'm aware."

"I don't know if it's my place to say," Yaoyorozu approached them, fingers twitching on her chin as she went through all the information to the day. "But judging by the current state of the village, it's highly probable that the decay will go further. We can't go on like this. Stretching the damage in this timeline will only make things worse."

Uraraka's glance flew from the knight to Midoriya, then to Bakugou, who was the center of all eyes, darkness twiling around him until there were no lights floating, no more air– and suddenly, the world was underwater, the trepidation and anticipation for an incoming avalanche of danger suffocating her, hands shooting from those dark corners and suffocating her in a loving hug.

And again, there he stood, in the middle of it all, having to carry the burden of a guild along side another man, stood Bakugou– this man who was starting to at least be civil with her, who had sort of, kind of, in a way, defended her back there. He hadn't haunted her, tried to suffocate her. Now, he had a burden too big to even notice her. He had told her the night before.

She couldn't bring herself to hate him so much when such big things were coming and he was still there, proud and strong. Yeah, there was no way a part of her couldn't respect him both as a fighter and a leader. Her hand tried to reach out, yet curled back and fell limp on her side, eyes down as Uraraka was helpless, useless, and no more than another face in this place.

But somewhere deep inside of her, something screamed, flew up her torso, flew up her vocal chords as the limp hands clutched on the knot tying her uniform's neck. "Are we ready for this though? Can we really pull this off as confidently as we are putting it?"

Bakugou boredly looked at her as some guild members backed off at the implicaton. Uraraka didn't understand the offense until the ashen blonde strode to her in a slow pace, spikes swaying as ashes danced on his face.

"You can't go around as a new member throwing shit at us." his hands were stretched, fingers curled as his smile went downhill with a disapproving grimace. Yet, his fingers never dared to reach any of her as they would have done so recklessly before. He knew who he was talking with this time. "Don't understimate us. If you aren't letting anybody do that to you, don't let your shitty mind play tricks on you."

"I am not, by any means, implying that you guys are weak!" the girl looked around to see everyone paying attention to her, but their expressions weren't disappointed at her, or mad. "What I'm trying to say is that RampAge doesn't seem like a foe to be taken lightly–"

"Uraraka is right about that." interrupted Todoroki, sensing that the girl was about to step on a blind spot. "We should have a plan before even thinking about heading off into battle so recklessly."

"It's not we'll have a straight-away encounter with him." retorted Midoriya, his eyes unfocused as he displayed a mental map of the whole kingdom. "We'd have to cross a town in the Frost Way, then advance to the Capital. That would take us a minimum time of two weeks, but we can try to be faster by maybe crossing the river? But even that would–"

Asui smacked Midoriya on the shoulder with her tongue. "Quit it. You look creepy."

Midoriya looked at the pharmacist with a little blush of apology as Mina sprung back up. "It's not something we can't do, I bet. I am mostly worried about how we will know where this guy even is."

The redhead, who was currently trying to supervise Bakugou in case he snapped out of his train of thought, shook his head. "Midoriya and Bakugou have him vaguely located. It shouldn't be so difficult to pinpoint him in a mildly large area. Supposedly, he is not specially small."

"Playing with suppositions will not take us very far." Iida cleaned his glasses, then gave the cloth back to Yaoyorozu. "We can't risk such an important fact like actual situation. RampAge may move the moment we step out of the capital, for all we know."

Midoriya staggered a bit to find an answer, so Bakugou had to once again respond while so side tracked. "The area he is in is basically like a massive hollow mountain. It's fucking impossible for it to actually change places like you do, four-eyes." then, he rubbed his face with both hands. "Which means I can't take Amelie with us either."

Jack, who had seemingly popped out of nowhere, swiftly debunked that setback. "Amelie wouldn't have done much more damage than our best fighters would have done." the black haired girl looked at the brunette, who stared back in wonder. "Group in which I very gladly include Uraraka."

The ashen blonde found entertainment on seeing little Miss Terrorist explode into a mad blush of aknowledgement she wanted to deny, but Midoriya spoke before anybody else could refute, agree or interrupt the statement. "Now that I think about it, what's your opinion on this?"

She jumped a bit to look at Midoriya, and the guild stared in wonder. "My opinion?"

"Well, you are a newcomer here, but anybody's impression is welcome." the freckled boy smiled at her kindly, and the sorcerer was instantly relieved for an unknown reason. It came from deep inside her heart and it was driving her insane. "Besides, new opinions aren't biased, just raw and fresh."

"Oh!" gasp and wide eyes, fingers fidgeting with her sleeves as her arms crossed, then she stood still as her answer was clear, had always been from a start and it had taken her too much to figure it out. "In that case..."

Uraraka cleared her throat and spoke up. Bakugou watched her from slightly afar, brow wrinkled as a warning. "I believe that our leaders would never take us through the wrong path. If they believe in our power and believe in the path they have traced, I don't know why we wouldn't trust them." and this time, Uraraka fully faced Bakugou by staring right into his eyes. "That's what a leader stands for."

The boy's eyes widened with a disbelieving frown, her eyes solid brown and no longer swiming in emotions and brewing with mechanical schemes, ideas, or even hesitant. Todoroki smiled behind her, a knowing little smirk showing through that no one but him would understand.

"Hell straight." Bakugou stretched his arms, flexing his muscles for both a show of power and might, condemning the following measures to be followed. "We will start moving tonight while light is still out, and camp for the night in the way to our first stop."

He seeked Midoriya's eyes for approval, and he nodded with a solemn grim frown. "We should divide into groups to make travelling easy, and in case of an ambush we will be able to maniobrate much easier. We'll need a healer in each group, and as diverse class-wise as possible."

"We can talk that out when we set off later." the ashen blonde moved his cape aside and advanced towards the main building. "Move your asses and start packing, take only necessary battle items, just light package. You are dismissed until sunset, be quick."

* * *

"Uraraka– Uh, Uraraka?" Kirishima opened the door to her room a little bit more in pure shock after seeing the madness she was stuffing into her backpack. "How many books do you think you will be able to take?"

"Oh, Kirishima! Um…" the girl hesitantly took them out with a hand and slammed their weight on her desk, prompting the hunter to approach the pile. "I thought they'd be useful to have as an addition to basic training with Bakugou… and that way I can also have something to read if ever have to make guard!"

The boy leant back from the volumes and grinned at her. "No worries lil' lady! Having your shoulder in such state will probably save you from the guards. Bakugou and Kaminari offered to do your guards until we get to the first stop." the sorcerer titled her head, blinking as the thought of Bakugou actually going out of his way to help her started to sink in awkward places, still odd and out of character for him. "By the way, you'll be going in Bakugou's group– said something about watching you, so I'll see you when we get to the first stop. Such a shame. Also, why is Edgar so… down?"

Uraraka padded to her shelves to gather some spare potions and scrolls, not surprised by Bakugou wanting to keep her under his hook. Her eyes then drifted to the sleeping form of her eagle, and sighed. "Little buddy here had a sever intake of ashes from the fight with Pyrox, as he flew around the battlefield for a while. I can't take him with us, but he'll come to me when I need him to. By the way, I take it you'll be going with Midoriya, then?"

"Yeah," the redhead picked up a random book from her desk. "with Yaoyorozu and Mina, good company. I'll sadly have to deal with Todoroki being around as well, he is such a baby during expeditions like these." the brunette nodded with a little airy laugh, letting Kirishima read the titles of her sorcery books. "Wow, all this stuff seems complicated."

The girl approached him to finish packing up, but before she could take the books back, Kirishima lifted it out of reach and read the title from below. She tried to grab the volume with clenching hands and chubby fingers, but the redhead still held it in the air. "A book on chemistry and… magic law?"

Uraraka jumped and got her book back, almost tearing Kirishima's arm apart. "Well, there are lots of things I haven't had time to ask Yaoyorozu about this kingdom's laws. So I need to learn if there's anything specific I can't do in certain places."

The brunette clamped the bad shut with a huff, the potions clinking with the metal details of the books and various other items of good use. Kirishima opened the door for her so they could finally proceed to the exit. "Well, I bet you were already told the basics, right? About dungeon hunting, the libraries, the ice mag–"

The door fell shut as Uraraka jumped to Kirishima's face. "I never got closure on that one!" Uraraka started to mess with her hair again, eyes darting all over the place. "I was given this creepy vibe about ice magic, like the fact that it's considered a cursed magic– but she never told me why! Jack sure seemed bothered about it though. Oh, and she also showed me–"

The hunter slapped his hands on her shoulders, and rubbed softly. "Take it easy, roundface. Midoriya's mumbling thing sure is rubbing on you easily, what a pain." Uraraka slapped her cheeks, eyes wide, wondering where the heck that ramble had come from. "Well, first, our guild has protection against ice magic, so using this kind of magic is actually possible, but it weakens the body of the user spectacularly."

The brunette nodded, adjusting her bag on her shoulder as Kirishima gave her an explanation. His scarf was tight on his neck, vest scraped to his chest and hands rummaging through his pockets, maybe checking to see if he has everything with him. "Ice magic is…" he gave an approving pat, then looked at Uraraka as they walked onwards. "out of the elemental circle. It's a mystery how one can manipulate it, and too dangerous to deal with. There is water, wind, earth, fire– those are the main elements, then there are other side techniques that I'm not that aware of."

The brunette gave him an endearing look of both surprise and pride. "You sure know what you are talking about."

The other boy tried to shrug it off with that warm, humble demeanor of his. Still, the compliment took over his heart, and the very same emotion was reflected back in his eyes. "I spent some time with Asui at the infirmary after a raid gone wrong, and she told me all about it. She's especially wary of this magic, considering she can only use water magic."

Kirishima and her passed by the lobby in complete silence as the brunette thought her next question, and was able to pronounce it once they were half way through the corridors to the main doors. "Still, why is it so bad?"

"It's just mysterious, and people fear the unknown in the same way I guess they fear you or Shinsou at Grinning Blade. My knowledge can't reach that far, you should ask Asui about it."

And of course Uraraka was going to ask her about it, because it turns out that she was feeling colder than usual, the fierce reminder that Yaoyorozu gave her still fresh in her mind– the way her eyes had flared with warning, how shocked Bakugou had looked when he saw his axe get knocked out of orbit in that wild winter frost. Bakugou knew, Yaoyorozu knew, but the only one who didn't really know what was going on with this magic and its danger was Uraraka.

"Oi, what the hell took you damn losers so long!?" screamed Bakugou the moment they exited the building, waiting at the gates with horses and the whole guild gathered. The two remaining members shook their heads and ran to them, remembering the reason behind such rush. "We have stuff to do!"

"Bookworm here wanted to pack a whole library of books." the blonde scowled at her in deep reprimand, but Kirishima was quick to defend her. "She did it for a good cause, though!"

Out of nowhere, Kaminari tapped Uraraka's shoulder and made her look at him with a little tug. "C'mon, we're sharing a horse, and we better get going before Bakugou here blows our asses up."

"Hold up, Kaminari." before the blonde could help her on his black horse, Bakugou forcefully gripped her arm and carried her to Kirishima's horse. "You are a clumsy rider, no way I'm gonna involve more people in your damn disasters." because it's not like he cared for her– that definitely was not the case, but he wasn't willing to have more casualties than necessary before the real war had even began.

Kirishima chuckled and took Uraraka's arms. "I guess we will have to share horse then. My pleasure to comply, _master_!" the blonde glared at the two brainless idiots who he sure hoped would crash into the nearest cliff and disappear. "Hold on tight, miss!"

"Everybody up their horses?" called Midoriya, Asui behind him as she set all her potions and ingredients in her bag for a quick reach.

"Wait, I am not–"

"Kaminari, what the fuck. Hurry your ass up the damn horse." Jack looked at the screaming leader and shook her head at Kaminari's clumsiness when it came to riding. He sure had been practicing, but it'd take him a long time before he got used to it. Mina, grabbing her from behind, laughed freely. "I take it you all are ready." there was a loud hum of agreement, and Kirishima handed Uraraka a big coat for her just in case she got cold. The sorcerer realized then that most people were wearing it as well.

Seeing that Kirishima was actually giving up his for her despite wearing less clothing, she politely rejected the offer with a shake of her head. That guy was impossibly kind to her.

"Pay attention, please." Midoriya's voice was clear, loud, commanding, similar to Bakugou's but in a less dangerous way that filled the entire place, but in enthusiasm and diligence. "We will head to the Frost Way as a whole group, then head for the forest so we don't make ourselves too noticed, and split up in groups. We should be there close to midnight, and meet again in a few days at the nearest village. Any questions?"

Uraraka had been giving this idea lots of time to go away– really, lots and lots of time. It was a crazy thought, a possibility that would be rejected the same moment it was spoken outloud. She gripped Kirishima's vest for dear life, forehead cuddling with his scarf, and bit her lip. Yet, the words were escaping, floating into the skies of her brain until they couldn't go higher, and instead dropped to the air below in quick sentences of anxiety.

"Why don't we…" Kirishima now noticed that she was close to tearing his vest apart, and gently craned his head to look at her. "why don't we ask Grinning Blade for help?"

"No."

"But–" nobody interrupted her, but they were obviously agreeing with Bakugou's refusal by the way they glared at her. "they are up against this very same issue! They may be great help with different sets of–"

"Go to them."

Kirishima, Uraraka, Bakugou and basically everybody looked at Midoriya, who didn't dare to look back at his guild and instead focused on the road ahead. "Kirishima, take her to their headquarters and then head to the Frost Way. We will wait there."

Bakugou almost went off his horse to chop his head off. "What the fuck do you think you are doing!?" his hands went wild into the air, little explosions rippling from his palms. "We can't go ask for help from that good for nothing purple hairs! Who even–"

"I have the very same right as you to make these decisions as you have." the green haired leader turned his head to look at the seething hunter, who then leant back in thought to think things through. "We are in no state to be picky… _Kacchan_."

Bakugou didn't make a fuss this time about the odd change of nicknames, only frowned heavily and gripped the bridles of his horse as hard as ever. "You got no right to call me like that, greenielocks." Uraraka blinked at the exchange from behind Kirishima's tense shoulder, and shook a little when Bakugou turned to look at her. "Be quick or we'll end up delayed by those motherfuckers, so go on ahead of us. Be careful on the way."

"Gotcha, _master_!" Kirishima whipped the bridles and the horse took a step back to then speed up across the bridge, stride clopping against the stone pavement as they rode into the sunset, turning at some houses and speeding up at empty areas.

Uraraka gripped Kirishima's torso with a hand and held the hat on its place with the other, a grateful smile softening her round features. "Thank you for this, Kirishima! I would have never thought Bakugou would agree to this!"

His voice was hushed from the winds leaping at their sides, but it vibrated inside his ribcage and made her felt at peace, bathed in the sunset as the guild's aroma carried their winds along. "He looks like a wolf, and actually fights like one, but he can't deny help we need. And I'm just hoping Grinning Blade will agree to help us!"

"I bet they will, it's not like it's not their problem."

Well, the real issue started when they were met with Shinsou's tired and bored dead eyes staring right through Uraraka as she voiced her concerns with earnest frantic glances, hands clenched around the neck of her uniform, travelling everywhere and there was a moment when she gripped Kirishima's sleeve for mere relief, her words being spat faster and sharper than ever. Her hair bobbed, arms shaking, and she finally shut up.

Shinsou only stared for a second, sipping from his drink, and gave a blatant answer.

"Not interested."

Kirishima and Uraraka jumped five meters behind to only come rushing back to his side, Kirishima speaking as loud as possible. "Man, what the hell? This is an issue of vital importance!"

"I don't give a damn about vital importances and what gets in your hairs. Nobody asked this guild for help, therefore I will never put my people on the line for others who haven't asked for it." Shinsou's eyes travelled from the gaping redhead to the other sorcerer, whose eyes didn't seem as surprised as one would have expected. "I guess you were already expecting this, clumsy girl?"

The hunter was startled to find that these powerful sorcerers knew each other, above all considering how ill Shinsou's intentions. Kirishima hoped Bakugou knew about this and had found a way to be alright with it. The sorcerer spoke up, mouth grim in a line of disappointment. "I can't deny that, but I sure was expecting to be able to see you cooperating."

"Then we don't need to speak anymore." the leader did a double take when turning to close the door, and stared at Uraraka with analytical eye. He seemed to observe how the sorcerer was holding herself awkwardly, a hand gripping her side with strange delicacy. "Is there anything wrong with your side?"

"Ah!" the girl jumped and smiled awkwardly at the other sorcerer, who was still looking at her right side with a pointy glare. The brunette felt too observed to her liking, so she unbuttoned the lowest part of her shirt to show the ugly scar to the leader. Kirishima was internally raging over the display of skin she was offering so recklessly, but he guessed it wasn't such a bad thing. "I got a pretty ugly wound when I first came to Yuuei."

The hunter stepped forward to check the scar. "Woah, it sure healed ugly and big, lil' girl! Does it hurt?"

She shook her head while still holding the shirt apart. Shinsou didn't seem so fazed by the new information, but a spark in his eyes betrayed his appearance. Only Uraraka noticed. "It's alright. It only hurts when I push hard enough, but really, it's as if nothing had happened. Shuzenji sure is a miracle!"

"So, you got that in a battle?" the brunette shrugged while buttoning up her shirt, which only made Shinsou ask more questions. "You don't know?"

Before the sorcerer could shake her head, Kirishima gently spoke first. "She's got amnesia."

"Amnesia, huh." both outsiders nodded at the same time, Uraraka still lost at the huge meaning that word had in her life now. It was like a big, hideous stain had damped her life and there was no way to wipe it clean. The boy in front of them tapped his chin, eyes swinging from side to side in deep thought. He then stepped inside for a second, and was back with a piece of paper. "We may not be willing to help, but perhaps old man will actually help out somehow."

Uraraka gingerly took the little note and read it with shock still imprinted in her easily molten eyes. " _Old man_?" the redhead looked from her shoulder, but didn't bother to finish reading the note. "Are you gonna take us to some kind of elderly wise man?"

Shinsou flashed them a little private smile, but it was full of intentions and raging thoughts. "You could call him that. Just go to him and ask for his aid."

Uraraka arched an eyebrow at him, but was elated to see him helping somehow. If this was his way to help, she would welcome it the first. "I am glad you are willing to help us indirectly, but how can we know if we can trust you?"

Shinsou chuckled at her endearing innocence and turned around. "Trust me, clumsy, I get nothing from helping you guys out. If I'm gonna go out of my way, I'll at least try to be civil."

Kirishima drove her with an arm around her shoulders towards their horse. "Thanks, I guess. Talk to Hatsume if you guys ever wanna help out, and she'll make it work somehow. Good luck while we are gone."

The door was closed behind them with no further ado, and while Kirishima led her to his horse, Uraraka reread the note with trembling hands. "You sure we can trust this guy?"

"I sincerely… am not sure." her voice trembled at the end, but her eyes were focused and resolute. They had no other choice but the hard choice. "We have no other option but accept this little nudge. As Midoriya said, we are in no state to be picky."

Kirishima hoisted her up the horse and adjusted the bridles in a second, not many changes needed. "Where do we have to go though?" Uraraka handed the piece of paper to him, and he had to read it a few times before he could actually recall where the location was. "Gotcha, it's in our path to the Frost Way. I just hope I can find such accurate location."

The hunter got on the horse and snapped the bridles to make him run out of town, all the while Uraraka read the note over and over again, eyes squinted at the smudged calligraphy, hugging Kirishima a little bit tighter the more she read into the note. " _The Mountain's Chamber_. Sounds creepy."

"It actually is creepy, if I do recall. It's a place under a big mountain full of snow. There's some big fog around there, I just hope it doesn't hinder our arrival."

Uraraka was worried about everything but that. Her hands scrunched the paper and held it tight to her chest, heart beating off a raging tsunami the further they got from the village, nearer to their only source of aiding and away from her short-lived home, away from her dorm, and away from safety. Shinsou's words trumpeted deep inside her mind, where only deep husky voices like Bakugou's arrived, provoking all sorts of little chills covering her spine.

"Yeah…" her face was buried on his scarf, fresh and old with use. Smelled like rain, smelled like home. "I really hope so, too."

* * *

"Lil' lady, this place sure is fucking creepy." his head shot up from the foggy cover as the horse stopped, Uraraka seemingly seeing right through everything as she was blinking and looking around just fine. "I can see the entrance from here though. Looks dark."

The sorcerer looked up to the sky and frowned slightly. "It's cloudy now. Sunset must be over by now." the girl took a leap of faith, brave despite what could lie beneath her feet, and luckily landed on safe ground. "I'll go talk to him."

Kirishima immediately got down from his horse, chasing after her little steps. "What? If that man is an acquaintance of Shinsou, he ain't good news!"

Uraraka stopped her stride to turn and lift the hem of her shirt. "Shinsou only decided to give us some help when he saw this scar. Maybe if I show this man I am tough, he'll believe we are, as well."

But the boy didn't give it up. "Uraraka, if something happens to you out there, Bakugou will have my fucking head."

There were a few seconds of silence in which Uraraka didn't budge from her place. Instead of going forward, she let out a little laugh, humorless and her expression afterwards was kind of sad. "Like he'd even care about a _terrorist_ like me. Despite being a member, I'll never be more than that." Kirishima was about to say something crazy to deny that truth – something with little foundation that could somehow make things better between them – but the girl spoke up again. "Besides, it's ok. I can handle myself and flee if that man get's feisty with me. Just watch after the horse."

Kirishima raised his hand in protest to only have it meet the fabric of his combat pants. "Whatever, just be careful."

Uraraka nodded eagerly and watched the man go down the little hill before she ran with big leaps up the little hill and towards the cavity on the mountain. There was some snow under her boots, crunching on her soles, humidity hanging low on the air as little stars twinkled behind a curtain of clouds above her bobbling head, which shook with every step she took closer to the hideout.

Her steps halted when she reached a regular door plastered on the cavern walls, where she knocked as soon as she got there, to get rid of the tension hanging in the unfallen snowflakes of white heaven. Uraraka heard steps behind the door, as swift and smooth like a leaf falling from a tree, and the door was opened slowly, cringing as it revealed a scruffy black haired man with a sand scarf on… that much she could tell from the darkness around them.

"Excuse me, mister! I hope I am not disturbing you."

The man stared at her in silence, tousled hair covering a pair of eyes that rivaled the deadpan of Shinsou's. "… who are you?"

"My name is Uraraka, sir. I belong to a guild called Yuuei, top champion of the season at the village we reside in… and my guild is fixing to go against a monster called RampAge, that lives far away from here!" her hands started fidgeting with the back of her hair again, twiddling and mixing with the lost strands of uniform. "Anyway, Shinsou gave us your address to seek for your help!"

At this, the man blinked and held out a hand. "Shinsou?" the girl nodded in response, frowning with determination. "Can I see some proof?"

Uraraka gave him the wrinkled paper, and the man read the letter carefully and slowly. Whoever this man was, he made her feel extremely uneasy. He looked scurffy, messy, darkened by the lack of lights and his eyes were devoid of any happiness, illusion or even anger. It was like watching a jar of water freeze over and to never melt again, his hair so unkempt and his scarf giving her a sense of humbleness from this man. Still, his hands were deeply scarred, marring his fingers, and it suddenly gave her a feeling of intimidation as this man… he was powerful. Maybe even more than Bakugou– her whole being agreed, heart thumping against her chest in sudden fear for what this man could do to her.

She was met with silence when he gave her the note again, and her fingers started to play with the folds of paper. "I just hope we are no hassle for you! I just felt like we needed to get more help in case out total prowess doesn't suffice and… I'm just hoping to get people over because–"

The man raised a hand in the air in front of her, making her mouth clamp shut with a single movement of his. "I can't help you. You aren't strong enough."

This made Uraraka come back at him like a boomerang, her face trying to get close to him for emphasis– something she did too often that she should really stop doing. "Wait, but I just told you that we–"

"I don't give a shit about Yuuei. I am talking about you, Uraraka."the man eyed her, glare narrowed as she blinked at him. "You don't have the necessary knowledge to ask for my help. You are still weak."

"Hold on, mister!" she tried to get him to not close the door on her face, which he ended up not doing. "I am not that weak! I almost took out my leader and Pyrox–"

"I don't care what you did. I only care about what you can do in the future." he shook her head at her, not a single trace of pity roaming his pale face. "I can't help you yet. There will be a moment when you will really need to seek me, when the lights die and you are lost– then, you will find me."

This kind of foretelling statement left her lost, empty, paling and eyes widening as dread settled in her heart and started quenching, gripping, squeezing, something venomous and poisonous filling her eyes to the brim with colors– but they were dark, shadows, ghosts of something she couldn't see, but she could almost reach out to touch and feel the remorse, the pain, the wholehearted loss of a future she could almost taste in a metallic rain of blood.

Her mouth almost hit the ground when she tried to reach out for him, so he wouldn't close the door on him, urgency rushing to her hands as they weighed on her. "What do you mean, sir?"

His shoulders heaved down in distaste as he eyed her one last time. Chocolate pools reflected his death charged abysses, and his hand clutched the knob once again. She wasn't ready yet. "You can't come to me."

And the door closed after he roughly spoke his last words.

"You don't know the meaning of _death_ yet."

* * *

 **[A/N]** : "giddy ap!" (9 ._.)9 I have this long tradition of fucking up second chapters. It runs in my blood family. And seriously, writing this is like motherfucking jenga– I have to build up such a high ass tower looking out for tons of details. Also don't pay attention to Uraraka's deathflag it's probably nothing /paints it in black, see, looks much better!


	3. Ch a pter 1

**[A/N]:** I FEEL YOUR HEAAAAAAARTBEEEAAAT TO THE BEAT OF THE DRUMZ (8) Hi, y'all /kicked

So sorry if this took so much but it's so damn hard to continue this story at a comfy pace with so much lore and stuff building up and having to construct some kacchako as well? I AM STRUGGLING? And a friend of mine told me this was novel-length like lmao she is right tho. I gotta reconsider my life choices.

Fo now thanks to all kind people who leave reviews and stuff in this clusterfuck? I DON'T DESERVE IT? But omg thanks anyway I feel blessed D: /sends cookies to you all and I will probably be doing some occasional fixes and editing because I am so tired right now you guys don't even _know_ haha.

* * *

"Mama?" the little chubby child tugged at the woman's red jersey, pointing then across the little river. "Who are those people?"

The pink woman followed the child's finger to the land on the other side, and squatted to secure an arm around the girl's petite figure. "Those people are dangerous, honey." the girl blinked at the older woman, doubt dancing in her big pristine pools. "Don't you ever go near them, or they will do nasty things to your little cute body."

The pink woman tickled her tummy for emphasis, which made the girl squirm in her hold. The laughter didn't last for long. "But mama, I don't understand! Why are they dangerous? They don't look so menacing."

She shook her head at the child and pointed at them. There were some adults working as guards across the river, meters away from the pair. "They don't like us, and they want to invade our land, _your_ land. They wish to destroy our home because they are greedy."

"Gweedy?" a finger scratched her cheek, and the woman nodded. The little girl gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "They want to kill us? They want to kill this village?"

The elderly woman got up again, hands ruffling her hair with tenderness. "I don't know, but just be careful. They are a dangerous species– they are _humans_ , thirsty for blood and lands."

"Humans?" the woman nodded above, and the brunette looked up. Sunshine covered the mother's face, but the little girl knew those soft factions nonetheless. "But Harold and I… see?" she rose her hands, grinning toothily. "We have the same skin!"

The woman sighed. "I know, darling."

"Then, why can't we all be friends, mama?"

Mother looked far ahead, frown crowning her kind eyes as her hands grew frantic around her child's head. "It's more complicated than being friends or not, Nameless." her finger shot to point at a boy working on the river. His hair was golden, reflecting the sunshine of a clear day, and it made the child's eyes gleam in delight. "See that boy there? He is a beast, an assassin."

"But Hawold and I–"

The woman's hand slapped the child's head in frustration, aware of the implications of such obvious fact as the skin color, the white of their eyes and the very same absence of horns. "I know, you are similar. But you will never be one of them, honey. You are not a monster like they are."

The mother gave her hair a last ruffle before smiling softly at the girl under her, who was looking at the boy in wonder. "Why would he want to kill me?"

The mother sighed and started to walk away, throwing a glance behind her to check that the little girl was still in place. "Same skin color doesn't determine one's intentions, honey. Just stay there until your friends come here."

Mother left the second afterwards, the little girl sitting on the muddy grass as the contemplated the thought. A whirlwind of newfound doubt, curiosity and wonder swam freely around her eyes, corseting her heart into a tight grip of anticipation and excitement. Her heart beat out of cadence, skyrocketing high above and exploding into a mixture of deep expectations, wondering how that boy's voice would sound like, or how his skin would feel. Would his body be as warm as hers, or would his eyes float against hers like Harold's did?

The girl got up, stumbled a little and brushed some dirt off her yellow dress. Gee boosted her energy and encouraged her to take a leap of faith and start running– running towards the land filled with warm golden night from the sun, bathed in blues and whites with silver creaking against her eyes like a jewel, and the boy's pale skin coming to view the more she ran to him. Sounds of steel clanking against wood and iron twinkled around her, symphonies of sweat and grunts compassing the hush.

Her dainty feet reached the river, and the waters seemed darker than what they had looked like a minute ago. She tiptoed, human boy not noticing her presence as she smiled at him. There were some guards around that only acknowledged her presence inwardly and continued their game of minding their own business.

"Hi, excuse me?" the boy didn't even flinch at her calling, focused on molding the iron. He couldn't be much older than her, maybe 11 years old or so, but his hands were bruised as if he had been working for a century, marred in blisters and dry blood. "Hello, blonde boy!"

The boy grumpily turned to look across the border, expecting to find a brainless pink alien he would have to behead and seeing a waving stupid girl in its stead. "Oi, what is your problem, cheeks? I am busy!"

"Hello, blonde boy!" she waved even more excitedly, water crashing below her feet as her feet grew closer to the edge. He only huffed grumpily and went on working. "Excuse me! There is something I need to ask you!"

"What in the world is your problem?" his hands were constricted in fists, eyes shadowed by his untamed mane of golden streaks. He was somewhat pretty to her. "I am busy!"

"Well–!" she almost tripped and fell over, squealing for a second before recomposing herself while messing with her head, anxiety for this boy's mood crippling under her skin. "There is something I need to ask you!"

"I don't care about your stupid problems! Besides, you can't cross and I can't hear your girly voice from over here." his voice was also pitched, but gave hints of growth and it would undoubtedly become rich and deep in the future. "Who in the world are you anyway?"

Nameless had a quick solution for that. The girl touched her shoulder and leaped over the edge, floating for a pair of meters before touching ground. Guards around her started to point their spears at her, startled by the careless display. The blonde boy was scared shitless, having scrambled off his stool and standing a good pair of meters away from the floating alien. The brunette started to flail her arms around, panicking as her mother's words ringed again in her mind.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to cause such ruckus!" she took a tentative step towards the boy, only to have him recoiling. "I just didn't think I would have made it across in a single jump, and skipping rocks would have been too slippery and risky–"

Golden boy pointed at her, words struggling to get out of his idle vocal chords. "You breaking your neck while crossing would have been much better than this witchcraft you have going on!"

The guards only pointed at her with more intensity, armors clanking and drawing the attention of other humans who looked at the scene with concern. "No, please! I don't mean harm to this village! I just desired to ask this boy a question!"

"And why did you have to be so adamant about it, crazy girl?" the boy grit his teeth at her, fists clenched and his body rigid, tense, ready in case that witch decided to pick up a fight. "You are just another alien– but you guys are mutating fast so we can't tell you apart and–"

"I am so sorry, I don't mean to be an intruder here!" her hands clasped the hem of her little yellow dress, shining like sunflowers in pure bloom. "Please, allow me a second of this boy's time, I'll run away like the wind after that!"

People lost interest over seeing her so docile and carried on with their daily duties. Meanwhile, the boy snarled at her, shifting to grab his little shaping hammer in case she decided to get feisty and start throwing punches at him. "Be quick or I'll smash your useless species to smithereens."

His eyes flickered in fire against hers, a rush of trepidation washing over her as hell, blood and dangerous lights started shining through his bleeding eyes, pale skin contrasting with the dark intentions his impure heart held. Her question suddenly seemed useless seeing a human like this, so bare and bone think, but she still blurted it out.

"Are you–" her eyes pounded against his very own bonfires, beaming with intention and silly curiosity. "Are you a monster, golden boy? Would you kill me if I were to hug you, ride you like I ride horsey Harold, or if we had fun bathing in the river?"

His brows wrinkled in disgust as such blunt, stupid question, but he was taken aback by how much honesty and sheer wonder she had poured in a short amount of time. To her credit, she had shoved a ton of bullshit in very little time. "Why in the world would I– no, why would I _not_ kill an alien like you, cheeks? Get outta my sight before I shred you to pieces!"

"But–"

"You said you wouldn't put a fight after this, we have pardoned you enough minutes." he gripped the handle of his hammer harder this time, an alarming amount of teeth showing. Regardless, he didn't step to behead her or even made a move to harm her, instead decided to start waving her off the land. "Do your sparkly stuff and leap over, I don't care. Just leave this place."

Nameless stared at the boy, heartbroken as he only stared back with a stern glare that warned her to leave before somebody saw her and decided to make the dirty job of torturing her in a dark chamber– somewhere even he knew she didn't belong to. In a way, he was making her a favor. The doe-eyed girl nodded and turned around, activating her ability and jumping across, a fog of sadness clouding over her heart as the boy only stared in wonder, seeing her fly away so gloomy when she had come to him as a bright, beautiful flower. He decided to hammer those thoughts away, and the girl was soon forgotten.

* * *

When Uraraka came to, the smell of burning wood greeted her sleepy senses, heart swarming near her fingertips as the bonfire crippled upon the lodges of stacked wood, flickering and waving under the mercy of the night breezes. The little sorcerer fluttered her eyelids open as the flames greeted her unfocused eyes. Blurs of oranges, yellows and greens melted together and then sharpened to give shape to the forest, the bonfires and a very sleepy Kaminari struggling to keep his eyes awake.

The girl shifted underneath the spare blankets and, when she didn't feel Asui's body sleeping next to hers, an unsettling feeling came to open her eyes and slap her dazed mind awake. However, when she heard the rustle of leaves and clanking somewhere near her, those thoughts of alarm slowed her frantic sowing of irrationalities and she dared look up to see a little cauldron heating up something nasty, which prompted Uraraka to sit up.

"Good evening, Uraraka." Asui peeked from behind the big pot to smile at her with kindness. "I see you have woken up. You sure have light sleep."

The brunette rubbed her big gooey eyes to open, but they were tired and half lidded regardless her restless heart. "You can say that again."

The sorcerer removed the blanket from her form and straightened her back, eliciting a pleased little moan from her sore throat. Uraraka had never really slept on the ground before– well, excepting that time she woke up mindless and brainless under a curtain of rain with a wound on her ribs, but it was a completely different kind of ground with some squishiness to it, wet and muddy. This ground was hard, dry, had stones sticking up from the sandy surface and there was always this irrational fear of ants tangling on her hair. Yes, that _was_ petty, but she would have to get used to such hard conditions.

The girl glanced around swiftly, and found out that most people were asleep around the clearing. Iida and Tokoyami were asleep against a trunk between its big roots, swords resting right beside them. Kaminari was all alone though, making Uraraka kind of worry about where Bakugou could have scrambled off to.

"Bakugou is off for some herbs." she continued stirring the mixture as if nothing, but the sorcerer still almost snapped her head to look at Asui. That girl was perceptive. "No need to worry so much. Don't cry me a river."

"Huh?" a weak grimace made her nose wrinkle in distaste, but she couldn't deny that it was offsetting to see him off this late in the night. "I am _not_ worried. I am just _concerned_. He is our leader and he's gone so late in the night. What a freaking weirdo."

Uraraka huffed in exasperation, eyes stealing a glance at the vacant place beside Kaminari. She didn't let her mind wander any further and got up with weak limbs, hands dangling by her side– there was no way that stupid narcissistic sociopath would even burden her sleep with his absence, with the possibility of him being in danger.

Why the fuck would he even be in danger? He was perfectly able, be it in the dead of the night or in the middle of a maze. Her teeth grinded against each other, jaw clenched– because this petty tiny concern was useless, unneeded, unrequited, he would never hold her in any higher regard as she would possibly do– yet, a part of her seemed to hold some care for the boy. And it drove her off a damn cliff usually, because it was a tiring game of chasing in circles, never stopping.

Uraraka sighed tiredly, crumbles of sleep issuing from her throat. Despite the obvious fact that Bakugou would never get along with her, she found herself caring for his despicable self regardless– he was her leader, another peer that, she had been advised to stay far from. Yet, she couldn't find the heart to give up on him to such extent. He had defended her back there at the village, had kind of had faith in her against Shinsou…

There was some hope for him…

Perhaps.

"You like sleeping, I see. I don't like being woken up, either." the herbalist made an attempt to change topics, which Uraraka was thankful for. She got up from the makeshift bed and walked to the pharmacist. "While the others sleep, I take time during nights to prepare the potions for the next day, while somebody stronger keeps guard."

Uraraka eyed the girl tenderly, a little soft smile sketching itself on her face. She was not as familiar as she was with other people like Jack or Mina, but she was attracted to her regardless. "I don't think you are that weak. You sure would put up a great fight, Asui."

The water sorcerer looked at Uraraka, not impressed by the dash of fresh warm air the other carried with her, but still a little bit touched by her kindness. "It's not like I undermine myself, but it's just for safety measures. Don't want an ambush coming to kick our healer's ass– Bakugou's words."

Uraraka looked at the pot afterwards, glaring at the nasty looking brewage. "And what is this you are preparing?"

The colors inside the pot blended, bubbled and brewed in an aromatic mist that Uraraka couldn't really identify, but it smelled like something akin to mind and chocolate mixed together. She tiptoed forward and smelled a little bit of the brewage. Again, it was minty, hot, and had that sweet undertone to it.

"It's a dipping poison." Asui stirred a bit faster this time, changing directions. The other girl looked at the water sorcerer and nodded with interest. Asui being there with her group would be a huge advantage, as Uraraka could learn lots from her and pharmacy was always a handy science to nurture from.

" _Dipping_?" nod, nod, and Uraraka only looked at the colorful mixture in even deeper wonder. A part of her wanted to put her finger in– but it looked scorching hot and her skin was easy to scar and blister. "Is this some kind of poison to use in food?"

The green-haired girl shook her head, not looking at Uraraka and instead rummaging through her bag. Her hands came out empty, so she signaled the other sorcerer to fetch her some spare ones in a flask on the ground. The frog girl couldn't reach down for the items below the cauldron as she was quite small and she had to stand on an actual big stone to reach the top of the pot, so Uraraka would have to serve as a temporal assistant. When she had the herbs, Asui poured them contently into the mixture, and stirred slowly.

"You dip weapons here, and give temporary poisonous properties to them." Uraraka nodded again, eyes glinting in curiosity and surprise. It was a pretty handy technique for making weapons be even more lethal than they already were, and it seemed like a very intelligent way of rendering any single threatening object as a needle useful and mortal. "Bakugou wanted me to give his sword a coat of poison in case we have a harsh encounter tomorrow."

The girl frowned at the prospect. "I see." she peeked over the edge of the iron container and gawked at how it was turning darker and darker the more Asui stirred. "You must know very well what you are doing when it comes it these things, yes?"

Asui removed the wooden spoon from the cauldron – it had big stains and it was broken in a few places, marred in scars of hurried preparations – and jumped off the stone. "It is a risky process. But it's not that much of a difficult science."

She then marched off to a bag she had near her and Uraraka's blanket, getting some jars full of some kind of pebbles no one but Asui knew about, and threw a handful of them from below, not even caring to look in afterwards. When the alchemist left again, the brunette lifted her hands to fidget with her gloves, afraid of burdening Asui with her request.

"I was wondering…" Asui didn't stop her task to even show a sign that she had listened, but the newcomer still talked. "if you could show me some advanced pharmacy when we reach our next stop, or maybe along the way?"

The girl did turn to her now, finger on her chin. "Yes, we _did_ talk about this." it seemed more like a murmur of ponderation and not a proper answer, so Uraraka waited with her fists clenched. She didn't really have much idea on how to interact with some members of the guild, so she just would go with the flow most times. "I guess I can show you some techniques you can use at emergencies. I don't have quality equipment here to show you much more."

Uraraka showed a dashing smile, eyes twinkling in delight as Asui gathered their blanket and settled it on the ground. The other girl was quick to sit down on her knees, legs together with her fists resting on her lap, head slightly bowed– and the pharmacist was a bit taken aback by how willing and docile the sorcerer looked under her. A part of Asui believed that if she asked her to go to the end of the world for a single useless flower, Uraraka would go there if it meant making her happy.

God, how could have Bakugou mistaken her for a villain?

"No need to be so stiff, Uraraka." the girl didn't lessen the posture either way, and continued looking at her straightly and determined, serious and collected when she was squirming in excitement and gee for this little lesson. "It's just a few tips to improve potions, curas and the like. I take it you can only prepare minimal brewages now."

"Er, _yes_." the brunette titled her head in defeat, a bit ashamed to admit that she knew very little for a being a sorcerer. "All potions I have with me were there when I woke up at the forest. Some were a bit more advanced if I recall… but most were basic."

"It's fine, you can learn a bit now." Asui took out some leaves and little fruits. Some sterolias rolled off her little purse, and Uraraka reached out to fetch one. Indeed, it was as sweet as Mina had mentioned it to be. She accordingly spit it out again. It would never not repel her with such invasive sweetness. "Hold on while I sort this out. I didn't have time to organize my tools properly."

"It's fine." the sorcerer waved it off with a kind smile, and looked around for a bit. Everyone was sleeping soundly, tired from the journey and beaten up after having to put up with Bakugou grumping about how unhelpful Grinning Blade had been, and Uraraka could recall how guilt had been crippling inside of her as she shut up about the ordeal with that man, that guy who had looked at her so intensely and whispered such cruel, fateful words.

Her fingers tightened the fist. _Death_ … they unclenched, relaxed, and the brunette looked at her bruised palms in deep concern and wonder. What did he mean with all that? And why had Shinsou… opened up so fast? What dark business did they have that somehow involved _her_ , of all people?

Something foggy and dark was stirring in a corner of her mind, blending behind the broken shards of a frosted mirror, her future identity and all that carried behind that somehow bringing a chill down her spine– but she couldn't touch it. The thought was bubbling, bruising, even. In the back of her mind, that man's words had caused an unpredictable damage that wasn't palpable, yet it was there, lurking behind the shadows she tried to look through, yet she couldn't tell apart from mere paranoia and mild fear for what was to come.

A part of her wanted– _needed_ to blame Bakugou for causing her such unnecessary ruckus inside her mind. The way he had spoken so highly and shaken about RampAge had her all kinds of shaken up. He was gone now, doing who knows what in who knows where, probably punching some butterflies off their caskets like the douchebag he was. Perhaps life was having a party on his body and he was being punished, hurt and that was why he hadn't come back, and an unnoticeable spine run down her stomach and pushed down, down–

Her eyes darted across the clearing and stopped at the empty slot by Kaminari, wondering, again, why she was so uneasy at the thought of him being suspiciously gone so late in the night, why this care did actually exist. It could probably be because he had actually defended her from Shinsou and the whole village before this voyage had begun, but it was such a weird feeling to possess when he was all but kind to her. Why was she worrying so much when he was no more than some kind of vigilant for her?

What a nuisance, a little unneeded feeling. It sure would be a good riddance once she was out of this tired, critical state. A part of her wanted to get rid of it… yet another part of her knew there was no letting go.

"Tell me, Asui," words fell off her mouth helplessly, not even thinking about what repercussion they'd have, or what Asui would think of her. It was a pretty bad habit of hers. Her eyes left the wrinkled blanket that was his red cape and looked at the one below their knees. "does Bakugou have that much trouble sleeping?"

It took a few seconds for Asui to answer. "It's always been like this, really. I don't see him much often, but Kirishima told me it's been this way ever since he was a child. He can't sleep until deep into the night. He runs on little sleep, though – tough guy, he is."

Uraraka tasted those words wistfully, tapping her fingers on her lap. Bakugou didn't really seem to have such problem, skin always pristine and devoid of rings or bags – but now that she recalled, he had mentioned he knew it took him too much time to sleep. Judging by his foul mood, he probably never got good sleep either. Was the bed too big for him? Or maybe he just got into heated arguments with the pillows? Apparently, the only way to ease this issue was going up the clock tower to either spend a peaceful night in solitude stargazing or being tortured with her presence.

Maybe he was gone for so long because he found that maybe solitude would prompt the so needed rest. It made her feel some pity for him in a sick, twisted way.

"Pay attention, Uraraka." this snapped the sorcerer out of her reverie, blinking heavily. "Making a novice cura is easy, but making a successful extra one takes some practice. Making one mistake on the process is normal, and it won't be a catastrophe to ruin the ingredients, but you can't go relying on luck for further practices."

Asui took a green, heart shaped leaf, and started to tear off its midrib with her teeth. "This is rough hand work, and if I had pincers, I would be much more classy and neat. One has to take the midrib off these leaves. These are called looibus, and are pretty cheap in an average shop. It's always more economic to buy these instead of the prepared potions."

Uraraka observed Asui remove the mid sections easily, and blinked in amazement. She had never seen such display in her life, her lips pinching the leaf and teeth tearing the section apart. "How can you do it so easily, though?"

"The veins of this species are especially thin at their starts." she took a spotless specimen and pointed at the mid section, tracing it with her finger. She had a cut on a side of her index, Uraraka noticed. "See how the veins are almost unnoticeable? It makes the process much easier. I usually act precautious and use pincers and gloves, but this will suffice for the time being."

Then, her fingers pinched the petiole of the leaf. "Good fetched herbs must always have their petioles, and if possible, a part of the branch they come from – just a minimal part, to extract the whole juice of the plant. How big the petiole is determines how much properties one can extract from it, therefore determines its final value."

"Was that why you complimented Kaminari the only day?"

"Not really, ribbit." she started to squeeze the petioles, also draining some from the midribs. Gooey, red liquids cascaded down into the flask. "The specimen he brought to me is special because of its spores. Those kinds of herbs have other value standards, and are hard to find. As for fruits, they depend on how squishy and intense they are in color."

The sorcerer took a little sterolia from nearby and inspected it. She gave it a little squeeze, and the tiny fruit, not bigger than a raspberry, melded a bit. It was scarlet red, darker splashes coloring some parts. "Does that mean sterolias are sweeter, then? You never mentioned any property other than its taste."

"Sterolias are used to dim the bitter taste of curas, but one can't go around eating them like Mina does. They are horrifyingly sugary and can give one a bad stomach ache if eaten in grand amounts."

Asui uncorked the green part of the little fruit and squeezed it. A teensy drop of yellow splashed on the other ointment. "May seem like a very small amount, but the potion won't be very grand." then, the sorcerer pointed at a jar near the cauldron, sitting next to Uraraka. "Pour some of that water in here. It's fresh from a nearby river."

Uraraka gingerly took the glass recipient and slowly put the water in. "Got'cha." she was maybe a little bit too slow. The water made an agonizing dripping sound as it fell, and the other liquids started blending with the transparent water.

When the flask was full to a quarter, Asui put a hand on her shoulder. "There, that's enough." the brunette put the water away. "No need to be so delicate, though. You can be all harsh you wanna. Speed won't affect the quality of the cura."

The brunette scratched her rosy cheek with a bit of shame, grin trembling in shyness. She was trying to be as careful as ever, not wanting to let Asui see how nervous she really was about learning so many new things, and being a good pupil. "Right, sorry."

"It's ok. Now, stir this a little bit." the sorcerer started mixing the liquids together until the red and transparent yellow blended and created thick, red substance. "As you see, you would need more leaves for a proper potion, but this will be enough for now. Looibus have high pigmented elements and nutrients, so very few leaves can do wonderful things."

Uraraka took the little flask and did what human nature instructed her to: sniff the hell out of it. It smacked her nostrils with protruding sweetness and some acid undertones to it. If she had to guess, she'd say it would taste like cherries and lemon. "Smells rather nice. How much damage would this cover?"

Asui looked at the flask and then up to the awaiting girl, who held the potion with dainty hands and delicate touch, as if it was a treasure. "I'd say only minimal wounds, and not very fast. Kirishima told me you gave him and Tokoyami a pair of those during the battle with Pyrox."

"Ah, I did." the memory of Tokoyami and Kirishima sitting down in such bad state had Uraraka trembling for a second there. "I see it wasn't that much of a big help."

Asui sighed, shaking her head. "Not much, but it's intention what counts. They could go home in a better state thanks to you." this information made Uraraka's heart swimming in pleasant warmth. "Either way, I will give you a little secret for better potions. It's very silly… but it actually works." she pointed at her bag as she drank a little bit of the point. "It's part of what got me in this guild. Give me the little blue spines in a purple jar."

The brunette undid the covering with deft fingers and ever so carefully took out a single needle. "There we go." Uraraka was scared to the bone, chilled in goosebumps as Asui unfazed pinched her finger. Hard. "Don't freak out, I'm not gonna die."

"What the hell, Asui?" the water sorcerer licked a bit of the blood, nodded and dripped some of it on the potion below. Just some droplets. "Are you actually telling me–"

"I one day discovered that looibus has an actual toxin that stimulates blood creation in the blood stream. I once thought about what would happen if one added blood into the mixture, healthy blood." Asui stirred the mixture languidly, and dedicated Uraraka a sideways glance. The aforementioned was busy having a seizure near the cauldron, shaking in utter despair. "What's wrong? Are you really so peachy over seeing a bit of blood?"

"T-That's not it at _all_!" then, the brunette pointed at her with an accusing finger that Asui paid no heed to. The brewage turned darker and darker. "It's just insane to see you so content with bleeding and stuff for the sake of a little cura!"

"This isn't a little one, you see."

As a demonstration, the herbalist poured some of it on one of her many cuts of her hand, probably done during harvesting these very herbs. The cut started closing slowly, like a flower blooming inwards, and it was gone in a minute. "My blood is specially pure and healthy. Blood is thought to be replenishing for hard travels, a reason why most of us eat meat scarcely cooked."

This had Uraraka even more afraid of the stoic herbalist, who was talking about drinking blood as if she was some kind of– "What the hell? Are you suggesting that even drinking human blood is alright?"

Asui looked at her with a slight exasperated glint in her eyes, but it didn't show much. It seemed like that woman enjoyed keeping herself to herself in the weirdest of ways. "Sorry if it sounds weird, but it's more of a little belief than solid science. It _is_ true that blood boosts potions, though."

Uraraka gazed at the still pouring blood, and saw it mix with the cura in little spurs of red claws, blending with the crimson red to make it powerful, an ingredient to save a life with the mere sacrifice of a droplet of human blood. A part of her heart trashed wildly inside her ribcage, the wise and troublesome words Asui had said so casually falling into a void of endless information, lore and extreme complications that would one day save her life– she just couldn't see it right now, but Uraraka was sure she would find it useful one day.

She didn't know why, but this lesson was extremely important to her. Yes, it was mildly creepy and offsetting, but she couldn't help but feel thrilled to know a way to save someone's life so easily, or at least prevent such occurrence. She entwined her fingers with an easy smile, watching the herbalist dump the potion into her bag. "I had a little stupid question."

"What is it?"

"Well," she looked at the ingredients spread on the blanket before the other girl started packing them into her bag. "I was wondering, would the effect be the same if one sucked the liquid straight from the loibuus if one can handle the bitter flavor?"

Asui bit her thumb in thought, and Uraraka had the urge to mirror her doubts by biting her knuckles or messing with her hair. Actually, it was feeling awkwardly itchy. She started to absentmindedly scratch her nape. "Now that you mention it, I had never thought about it. It sure would come in handy."

"Well, don't–"

"Are you fucking telling me that sucking on leaves can actually do your job?" the gruff voice made them turn around, and they watched Bakugou's muscles flex as he held some logs on his shoulder. He unceremoniously threw them into the fire and it started licking the wood with passion, his blood irises brightening. "What do we have you for?"

That bold statement would have affected anybody who didn't know him, but none of the sorcerers flinched at his brusque, rude words. Uraraka eyed Asui, who eyed her back for a second before looking up at their leader. "To make sure you guys have decent weaponry and not sticks like Hatsume would make to you. She can't stand you."

Bakugou shoved a bag with ingredients to the herbalist's chest, who inspected the paper fixing in caution. "Fair enough, I guess." condoned the messy blonde to the pharmacist, who ran happily back to the cauldron now that the fires were at their fullest. When she was safely up on her stone again, Uraraka started to fold the blanket.

The hunter watched the sorcerer scramble to sort out their sleeping arrangement, and started patting her pillow. She stretched her arms, her shirt lifting a bit and exposing some of her soft, pale skin. When her mouth fell shut after a little yawn and her eyes blinked soreness away, he finally understood what she was up to.

And when she limmped on the makeshift bed, all he could do was rage about her blatantly ignoring his presence. "Oi, Uraraka! What the fuck're you doing!"

The sorcerer turned under the blanket and started stirring a bit, eyes blinking to focus on the heaving leader a meter away from her disgustingly tired face. "Do I seem to be killing rabbits?"

"Well, that would at least be useful to the situation, you dumb–" he shook his head, because snapping on her wouldn't do for the situation. He had tried to ignore this obvious feeling of hatred he had for her– but sometimes, just sometimes, she made it a bit too difficult being so casual with him. "Whatever, just what the fuck do you think you are doing?"

Uraraka turned under the thin blanket, her eyes facing the sky. Her words took some seconds to get out, his glare so focused on her that it was both amusing and somewhat intimidating, again, to see him so agitated. "I thought we had already stated that."

Bakugou shook his head and proceeded to squat right next to her bed, hands gripping the fabric of his clay pants. Only now did Uraraka realize he wasn't wearing his trademark cape and he suddenly looked so much more human and reachable like this.

"That's not what I meant." his contorted eyes landed on her stargazing ones, full of stars he would never even dare reach out for. It agitated him so much to see her so– just so pure and snarky at the same time. "Seeing the clusterfuck of problems we have around the problem, I can't understand why you are trying to sleep it all off and not help somehow."

That made her finally tear her relaxed gaze from the stars and finally pay attention to her fuming leader, who was seething over her and was either trying to scare the hell out of her or get her to move. None of them worked. "I was just taking some spare lessons from Asui for chemistry resources. Should I remind you of our encounter with Shinsou earlier today?"

Just out of nowhere, the working herbalist butted in. "Just so you guys know, the others are sleeping…"

Both warriors looked at her for a pair of seconds and dismissed her to continue bickering.

"Yeah, I do remember pretty damn well– and not because you did much anyway."

It was now when the brunette squinted at him a little bit harder, eyes pointed in analysis as his posture was too scrunched, his cape forgotten in a bunch – something so odd from him, as she had taken him as a tidier individual – and his eyes racking around the embroiled ends of her blanket, his mind probably years and possibilities away from what mattered, from what was spinning around them as she stared intently at him. Her brow fell, and she found herself asking before she could bite it all back into place.

"What's wrong?"

The blonde snapped from his trance immediately. His hands released the fabric of his pants and they slammed the dirt underneath, eyes widened in panic and accusation before she could even explain herself. "What the he–"

She clamped a hand over his mouth, and much to her surprise, he didn't bite it off like he probably would have done before. Judging by his eyes though, he was probably dying to. "You are going to wake the others up, stop raging on me." Uraraka hesitantly let her hand drop a little after she sensed he had calmed down, and he made her retreat with a hand to her wrist. He didn't let go of it for security measures. "I am a member of Yuuei now. You have no other option but to regard me as such."

She very sadly had the upper hand there. She could no longer be ignored or treated as the terrorist he was trying to believe she wasn't, but the title was so fucking _hard_ to get rid of after he had hung it on her for this long. Now that he noticed it, her looks weren't those of a rogue criminal or a strong person altogether. Her cheeks were annoyingly rosy, eyes too big and hair too stupid. Again, she was so deceivingly naïve looking that it frustrated him and only added more to the fire.

He _despised_ her. Bakugou couldn't say he hated her anymore, because he was no fool and Uraraka wasn't either. Her eyes weren't those of a liar, but held kindness of an unbeaten person, slate clean purity in a brown splash of colors, gleaming to the fires of the camping. Her hands seemed to hold the keys to every untamed kingdom of his mind, yet he would never let her have the right locks to open all its rooms. His eyes shifted again, looking at his hands again.

Yeah – his hands clenched, admiring its scars, and closed it again with a grimace – he hated how he hadn't been right about her being an impure bitch, but a part of him lay in joy seeing the investment would be worth it. The little titles of her head, the twinkle in her eyes, he would be there to see it all come true. It would take time for him to fully accept it, but he had to start taking steps.

It took him a little bit of resistance, but he ended up talking, shaky.

"There is a traitor in our midst."

There was silence after that. Bakugou looked up to see her mouth agape, eyes big as saucers– but there was no trace of suspicion or anger, just shock and mild fear, or maybe curiosity? Her mind had toppled over the edge and fallen into an impossible abyss of mindless options, scattered pictures of her companions crowding her fall. The faces outnumbered her, scratched canvases of compatriots becoming traitors, and claws pulling her down where it was darker, faster.

Her body landed in solid reality, snapping back as the possibilities stopped spiraling around her– eyes settled on Bakugou, and this was the very first time that, underneath the soft stare of the stars and the moon, the leader had let anything akin to actual feelings show through that thick barrier of his, surrounded in spikes that not only separated people from him, but also the other way around.

He was a leader, another member, one that trusted his people with his stone, guarded heart. Knowing that there was a traitor in his surroundings must have him scared for once, feeling betrayed and having a knife pointed at his neck without knowing who the hand belonged to. The feeling was a bit alike with Uraraka, who regarded all her sleeping companions in a clouded scan.

It was then when the sorcerer realized that Asui had settled near her, and was tugging at the big blanket to cover herself as well. The girl gave the thingy up and shifted closer to Bakugou, who was sitting in front of her. This bad habit of being too near to people could get the best of her very easily, but this was the first time she intended to be a comforting presence to him.

After all, she had to take steps to normalization as well.

"How can you say this?"

The boy sighed, and rubbed his face with hardened hands. The brash leader was a far cry from this exhausted man, who was starting to see a mountain of problems coming to them with RampAge on the loose as well. Having a traitor among them, possibly in this very same camping where security was minimal– alarms were flaring inside of him, and it made him look ages older.

"Remember this afternoon, when we were almost ambushed by an archer?" the brunette nodded. Her hand had throbbed with intensity to protect the blonde in a primal instinct of sudden care, but the initial shake had very much worn off ever since. "The wood of the arrow was made with our guild's material."

This piece of data was incredibly accusatory, but the pieces were totally scrambled in Uraraka's head. "But, maybe they simply use the very same types of–"

" _No_. Things ain't that easy in our village." the wood had burnt so nicely in his hands once he had been alone, so flammable and nice to combust. He knew the touch and feel of it very, very well. "Guilds have their own portion of forest to take resources for weapons from. Pillaging is a very different thing to this, but the Council would never let us have a whole forest for ourselves. Even _I_ can tell that would be conceited and dumb as fuck."

"So, you are saying that you know it because it's wood from _your_ forest?"

"Not exactly, as Grinning Blade has the very same kind of wood for their arrows and sticky blades." of course he would talk about them as wimps when he had a fucking axe as playful toys to battle with. This man was gentle now, but he would have his claws out the moment this intimacy was torn apart. "Clock girl applies a material that helps the arrows burn fast, but that can preserve the arrow while burning, like a match. It's a handy technique we use for ambushes at guild battles."

Now that she thought about it, Mina's hands _did_ have ugly burns. She must be a really valued asset to their guild, as archers seemed awfully scarce as well. "Are you sure this is that much of a secret ointment?"

The ashen blonde nodded, a frown crowning his angular traits. He dragged his ass to a tree behind him and he rested his head on it, a bit far from the sorcerer now. Fire burnt not very much away, the clearing being small and the guild members resting far away from the other, yet close this time heart-wise.

"Frog girl there is who actually helped our blacksmith develop the resin." oh, so he was talking about Hatsume, the overly excited girl at the support basement. Clock girl was… kind of a lame nickname for her, though. "I trust them enough to know they wouldn't give this away, so I assume this fucker must have taken arrows from our headquarters."

Rewinding back into daytime, it had been a shame sun had hidden this traitor in shadows, cloak and hands covered in blackness. Uraraka hadn't thought much about this event in particular, had thought it was probably one of those illegal hunters making trouble again. Her hands started raking the back of her head, that thing she did all the time when she was nervous or anxious– yes, all the damn time, and everyone included Bakugou hated it.

"This is troublesome, then." spoke she, matter o' factly. Her eyes bore in his, worry shining through like water in a glass jar, so painfully obvious she cared for his guild that he snarled, feeling creeped out by her attachment. "If the traitor is with the others, they won't be able to call us for help."

He looked at her a bit more, then looked at the fires and secretly watched over his peers. The girl in front of him did the same. "I will be keeping guard in case somebody here decides to play hooky on my ass." he spoke with such hate, burning ire and anxiety for his guild's security rising into the air. "I won't let that fucker get out of my eyes that easily."

Uraraka observed him from the corner of her eyes, a sincere smile fighting its way into her tired cheeks. Her next words were as gentle as her smile, as her eyes. "You _do_ care, after all."

It was no more than a whisper, but he heard her anyway, ears trained to hear an ant jump from a leaf to another, and craned his eyes to her. Bakugou showed no sign of approval, but didn't reject the statement, either. "I am a damn leader. It is my obligation to look after these wimps, because if I don't, they will be rotten meat by the time we get to the village."

 _That_ made her laugh, then do a double take and actually revise his pointed words. "It's not like we can't manage, you know. If you have won so many battles against Grinning Blade, you sure _can_ be lethal. Jack's words, not mine."

The hunter turned to her, eyes indifferent but still tasting the pride in her words. In a sense, he was immensely proud of what they had all accomplished together, but his heart somehow didn't want to take the conversation in that direction. "I never said _you_ weren't able– I sadly know you are perfectly able to fight anybody in your path." she looked at him again, cautious for whatever he was going to spit now to ruin her. Surprisingly, he just _didn't_. "Kaminari and Kirishima sure are, the same with Iida. I know you guys can actually fight back."

Arched eyebrow at him. "So, you are actually complimenting us."

Bakugou doomed her with that sadistic smile of his that sent her heart in a mad ride, but she couldn't really explain why she still felt so intimidated while on the road to normalization. She would have to get rid of those petty fears if she wanted to meet his ground someday. "When I call you a terrorist, I mean it because you are a menace. It is an insult."

Her eyes deadpanned in his, bored and waiting for him to go down the very same decaying road. "C'mon, finish me off."

He squinted his eyes at her, head titled forward. The fires shadowed his eyes in an even harder glare. "What I mean is that now it seems like you can play the role we want you to. So you can try to see that as us knowing you are able."

"So, you are admitting to me, right here and now, that you do aknowledge that I _am_ strong."

"Oi, don't sass me, Uraraka." the sorcerer giggled, and she crawled to rest against the tree by her makeshift bed right next to Bakugou, who only recoiled so she wouldn't step over his boundaries. Her eyes climbed up to the starry ceiling above their heads, and found out that Bakugou was wistfully stargazing as well. "Relatively speaking, you _are_ strong for a novice. But I can't have you relying on brutal smacks that leave you as a leech right after. That will never do."

Her voice was lost in the night sky, then closed her eyes to feel the dark breeze of the river neat them. "I guess you are right on that. I _do_ wanna get stronger, you know."

Bakugou looked at her with intensity. The orange lights of the fire lit up her eyes, but it wasn't like she needed actual fire to shine, right? It was this weird feeling inside his chest of seeing something ever so _scary_ inside of that petite body of hers, a feeling so enticing yet so mysterious as that face of hers seemed familiar– but it had terrified him and then made him leap to anger. She was the only one in this forsaken guild that could flip his switches.

And it threw them off even stronger when he saw that she never meant to trouble him, but she _did_ anyway. Uraraka hadn't meant to come across as a terrorist, as a menace, as his heart sworn enemy after Shinsou and Midoriya– yet, she hadn't shrunk. She had sucked it all up and faced him in so many occasions, little by little, and had made her stand up against a fucking mob of people conspiring against her.

She hadn't meant to step in here, but she had anyway and there she was, quiet as if her whole life hadn't been turned upside down like his had been. Couldn't she realize what a fucking nuisance she was, that he was bearing with a little too much to his liking?

Look at what she made him do, have to step out of his way to try and accept her. _Disgusting_. Yet he was doing it anyway, and it was starting to become easy not to hate her. And a part of him knew she was easier with it that she had once been. He didn't really want to know what was going through her head, but he deemed it better to be like this.

But then her eyes drifted to his, and she grinned when he found him staring. Bakugou growled with disdain, making her giggle. Her eyes warmed slightly when he didn't immediately threaten her like he would have, just swallowed it up. Yeah – both thought, eyes glancing up the stars – it was becoming easier to overcome such universal rules.

"How strong do you wanna get, though?" his words were hoarse in wonder, more spoken to himself than her, but it made her interrupt her internal schemes to regard him. His eyes moved to hers as well, red bleeding in pure chocolate. "I don't know how ambitious you are power-wise, but I can assure you you ain't becoming a professional powerhouse anytime soon."

Uraraka hugged her knees, sighing. Her tone deflated slightly, her mind set off far ahead. "As much as I can. As much as I can take. As much as it requires so we can take down RampAge and fix the universe." so there she went, speaking about such thing like it was a silly matter to the wind. "I will overcome myself, and never bow to an enemy again."

Her eyebrow was knit in determination, no longer talking to Bakugou, but to herself. A part of him knew this was like some kind of mantra to her and that Uraraka had this tone that esteemed danger and threat in a thousand languages, but not a single cell of his body found the energy to complain despite this being a clear hazard to her. Honestly, at this stage, she could go throw herself off a cliff, he didn't care much about it.

It may be because he was tired, but stepping from actively trying to kill her to simply not caring about it seemed like a great step to him. Better to not want her than want her _dead_ , right? Irony would get him for that later on.

"Well, as long as you don't cause me fucking trouble, it's fine." condemned the leader, but he had a feeling she wasn't really listening. "Now go to sleep, it's been enough talk for the night."

"Mhm, agreed." nodded she, still relishing in the glimmer of the fire near her, wood cracking under the moonlight. "We have stayed civil for too long, better to not drag any further."

The blonde hunter growled at her after such remark, to which she could only laugh and sigh. She wasn't stupid, and knew that deep inside, he was a bit afraid of moving on from that comfortable stage they had of hating each other recklessly and having swords drawn all the time– but she was starting to move on, which sadly didn't mean he would move as fast as she would. The past was a long forgotten memory, but she could only wonder how much it'd take for him to let it go.

And the thought tired her so, _so_ much.

Yeah – after a short glimpse at his eyes burning at the fires with passion and complexity, her head craned back to the fires too – she _did_ care about him, after all.

* * *

"Papa, who are those people at the barrier?"

Nameless peaked from the border of the cauldron, pink hands coming to swat them away in fear she would burn herself. Bubbles floated from the recipient, pink hues delighting the girl before they burst in the air, and she laughed in senseless joy. "Ah, my child, no more than silly invaders."

"Yes, that's what mama told me… but I don't understand. They seem docile and…" the face of the boy came into her mind, his rude and blonde behavior contrasting so much with those kind faces that had allowed her to cross the river, bland attitudes and some smiles thrown her way. "They even have the same skin as I and Harold do!"

"Harold?" she nodded, only to have her tutor crouch and ruffle her hair with his clawed hand. "Don't you mean that red boy with the hard skin? Was it... Kirishima?" the girl's eyes lit up, and her head bobbed again with a wide smile. "Well, _yes_. You do share some similarities, but the color of your skin doesn't define who you are, darling."

"But we are so similar!" Nameless outstretched her chubby hands, petite pads grazing his dad's claws. "Look, papa, my hands are different! Yet, they are invasors and mama hates them? I don't get it."

The little brunette crossed her arms, cheeks puffed in disagreement. Whether they were invaders or not, they hadn't tried to touch her despite being from another species, from another face of the incoming war– she was their enemy. But nobody had dared to touch her. Her dad could see a million thoughts running across her sensible mind, so he just shook his head in utter defeat.

"Some time ago, we took something from them– something very important." that had her looking up, hands limp on her sides with the very same naïve look everyone knew her for. "Something that holds great power, something that belongs to us, and has always belonged to us. It's the reason we are still alive now, they fear us. This land– this planet alone, it all belongs to us."

Nameless continued looking up, brow knit in confusion. Her heart beat out of control, breath stale and staggering to keep her alive in the very same place she stood, and she wasn't there anymore, backgrounds changing to a fuzzy rainy ghost town full of dead trees, where an orange house stood and a warm family lived. The drops of a far away rain hammered on her skin, and never left.

When her eyes looked up again, they were wet with tears. "Daddy, I don't understand! Does that mean they want to _really_ destroy our species? Because they are… greedy?"

Father looked at the girl sternly, but didn't give her a response, stirring the brewage silently as Nameless wiped her eyes clean. In fact, her father would never give her an answer, but the fact that his eyes had stared at her so intently brought tears to her face every time.

* * *

A part of Uraraka had once found herself believing that travels like these were bound to be fun, used for bonding and mental training. As she had been packing all her stuff, the only thoughts that racked her head being images of her friends laughing, telling stories as they went or taking about everything and nothing at the same time.

Of course, she had been wrong.

Not too much. But still.

The group walked through the forest in a slow trudge, under the shelter of a blinding sunshine that never gave it a rest. Whilst they were walking just by a river – Iida had diligently explained to her that the Capital was located just by a river, so as long as they went in the right direction, they would never get lost – there was no breeze whatsoever, and Uraraka had to remind herself that using magic under such critical elements was not healthy.

There was this moment when Tokoyami came to her side and asked for some whips of air, as Asui had no knowledge of how to do them. The brunette had sighed in resignation. "It's not wise to use elements you can't actually bend in space. Bending elements consumes energy, but bending elements one has to actually create is an incredible waste of energy."

Kaminari, who had been talking with her all the way, butted in shamelessly. "Whoa, those books that Yaoyorozu gave you must have paid off for sure. You sound so technical, Uraraka."

The sorcerer smiled as contently as possible, sweat gleaming under the hat. "One tries her best. It has happened to me that when I try to light up a candle with no fire around, I feel a bit colder afterwards. So now, creating air out of nothing would possibly knock me into a heat stroke, and I doubt you guys would enjoy carrying me all the way to our next stop."

She could already hear Bakugou scheming ways to convince her to help Tokoyami, and fumed at his back. He walked a few steps ahead of them, battle sword in hand just in case any nasty enemy came to crash the party. Bakugou looked behind him and instantly snapped when he found her staring at him with that stupidly fumming of hers. "What the hell are you gawking at me for, Uraraka?"

"Wow, Bakugou, moody much." commented the other blonde, and it sounded like such an obvious statement, devoid of surprise and just too plain regular that nobody paid him any attention. "Sleepless again?"

This time, the hunter was the one to look back at her, but his eyes weren't as loaded with hatred as one would expect them to be. "Yeah, talkative midgets won't let one rest."

Uraraka found herself very much offended when all eyes landed on her. "Hey, I am not that talkative! Stop– Asui, are you seriously laughing at me?"

Asui had only giggled a bit, which counted as a laughing fit for her. "Sorry, I am just kind of glad you two are already making nice. Kudos for putting up with Bakugou so far."

The leader stopped in his tracks and leaped before Asui with a tapping finger on her arm. It had taken him way too long to snap at someone, which made Uraraka breathe out, finally. It was better to have him throwing a fit now than when they got to the village, tired and sore from skipping streams and getting boulders out of the way.

"Oi, who you calling hysterical, frog girl!?"

She only blinked at him, not as terrified as pale Kaminari was of him. It really seemed like most people from Yuuei had the beast under control, but even Uraraka herself who was kind of used to him – she had experienced him at his worst personally, there wasn't much worse than that in store for her – would jump at his brashness sometimes. Asui, though, she was so collected and unbreakable.

Sometimes, she wondered if–

" _FUCK_!" Uraraka turned to see Tokoyami clutching his shoulder in pain, and with a little shift of his posture, she found a dagger stabbing his skin. "What the absolute–"

"My my, foreigners in _our_ territory!"

The crew turned to their right, above the river and up to a mountain cliff. The leader of the group growled loudly and unconsciously walked to stand before his team, sword drawn at the unwanted presence that stood atop the cliff. They wore black cloaks and there was this one that stood in front of the group with some kind of scepter drawn out, black strands of hair blowing in the wind. Uraraka could even sense the wicked smirk that Bakugou sported so well under the capes.

"Hold on…" her eyes squinted at the cloaks, and recognized the beads at the pointed hoods. Her breath got stuck in her throat. "– t-those are…!"

" _That fucker_." snarled Bakugou, cleaning some sweat from his jaw. "Where the hell did you guys come from?"

The female voice talked again, head lolled in mean intentions. "Nobody you will ever care about, soft boy." she looked at one of her henchmen. "Wipe them out."

This mercenary swung his hand to the right, and a thousand purple spears appeared in the air, pointing at them, and fell down faster than a lightning bolt to crush them dead, pierce their skulls and leave them bleeding on the ground, making the leader chuckle and lips her licks at the full display of flesh she'd have for her people, but–

" _Look out_!" Uraraka's staff swung at the sky and a rampage of fire and lighting exploded the attack into smithereens as a ceiling of light rippled in the air, making the forest dance at the wave and the enemies' cloaks float for a few seconds. The energy rippled onwards into the forest, and burnt some of the highest trees until they were no more than ash.

Uraraka stood straight again, forehead sweaty and weak knees. "That was close."

Bakugou smacked her on the neck with a grimace, which she rubbed in pain. "No need to burn the fucking whole forest down though. We're seriously gonna work on that."

The woman narrowed her eyes at the awaiting group, dangerous lights flickering down in her glower. "Noisy _children_." she tugged at her hoodie, and dug some dirt out of the cliff with her staff. "Be right back, guys. Don't wait up."

And the woman straight jumped off the cliff, staying in mid air for a few seconds to focus on a safe landing. The blonde leader tugged at Uraraka's neckline and yanked her backwards so she could stay out of the _damn_ way because she didn't know how to do anything else but stand in his way. When he saw that that damn witch was going to land straight on him, he dug his blade on the dirt and held his wrist straight up.

"This is gonna hurt like a motherfu–" and he fired, rippling explosions driving through his skin until they imploded and exploded into the air fifty meters above them, fire bubbling in the air as a gust of wind rushed into the ground and slammed on the dirt loudly, making Asui actually stumble and fall into Iida's armored hands. Uraraka held onto life by driving her staff into the ground, Kaminari holding onto her as well.

This foe though, she was no commoner. Her body dived straight through the explosion with her cloak riding the air, and the hunter had to leap back with a shriek her her scepter slapped the ground and made the soil crack under her feet. Then, she was up, head titled in amusement as her voice cackled in disbelief. "Fun trick, kid. You sure don't fool around."

"You…" Tokoyami stepped forward as well, standing by Uraraka's side. A hazard of a shadow lurked behind his eyes, oh she could tell so well, and his hands were clenched in crossed arms, pondering the potential of this enemy. "you are one of those illegal hunters, aren't you? From the Jirou family."

"Ne, such a blunt statement from a bird boy." she wiped something from the corner of her mouth, and Uraraka came tumbling into the terrifying conclusion that is was red, crimson blood. "Why say it so spitfully, boy? It's not like we are the plague. And please, don't make me feel related with that bunch of scruffy criminals. I have more class than that."

Kaminari stepped in front of Uraraka and Asui, who looked troubled at the sight of such shady woman. "Not like you made that evident, jumping off a high cliff to attack some kids."

"Never said it wasn't an adventurous kind of class, blondielocks." her eyes bled in blue purity into Uraraka's ones, speaking of horrible death penalties for the sorcerer in her head. "Ah, _this_ child. You sure ruined my little show before, I can get why your village is so damn scared of you."

Her other hand rested on top of a black whip, nails long, black and dirty. Her uniform was torn in several places, revealing bunches of scarred skin and blood caked on her hip. This woman – Uraraka shuddered under Bakugou's glare, who was exceptionally aware of what she was thinking – was _dangerous_. In a kind worse than Bakugou, worse than Shinsou, or darker than that man's chamber at the mountain crevasse.

She was terrifying, and the thought made her take a step back until she was met with silence from the black-haired woman. Something was telling her to step back, something deep inside those eyes made her world fall into a ditch of statics and bugs, nagging thoughts of nightmares and blood dripping down her hands, heads surrounding her and rain falling on her neck again–

A jolt of electricity made those thoughts disappear until they were no more than a stain in her mind. "She's toying with you. Don't look into her eyes or she–"

"My, such a talkative boy." snarled the woman, flicking her hair over her shoulder under the cloak. "Let me introduce myself, even though I doubt it's necessary, right? Judging by your faces, I doubt it's necessary."

Her hand fetched her hoodie and tossed it behind, revealing a sharp, pale face with black glasses and pointed factions. That face… – Uraraka screwed her eyes shut, biting her lip as she thought back in days when she had seen that face, that victory and those dead eyes of hers that– Uraraka gasped, and a mild rush of fear ran down her spine at seeing such a dangerous figure stand idle in front of them, in front of _him_.

"I go by the name of Midnight, referred as Hollow Despair by my peers and all those who survive me." her voice was arrogant, but not in the way Bakugou's was, again. She was in so many ways as mean as the leader was, yet it was easy to see he was just unreliant and brash. Yet, this woman… she was so much more than that. "Hey, brown eyes, see this staff? It's way prettier than yours."

Uraraka had the urge to spit on her and say it just wasn't her cup of tea, because that scepter of hers held a deadly aura nobody liked. Black staff with bars surrounding a cracked skull, moss growing out of the ancient heirloom. It sprinkled some odd vibes off the scepter, smells like a cemetery, and the place is suddenly deadly silent for the moments to come, the voice of this mercenary filling the whole forest. "I am a necromancer, professional in the art of death and despair, and whoever who crosses paths with me is destined to receive a nightmare battle. No opponent of mine leaves unscarred. _Nobody ever has_."

This made Uraraka gulp, and hears the distant clinking of Bakugou's sword being drawn out from the earth, and a chuckle. It was all so distant, why did she feel like this? Blood was plumping into her heart in a frenzy, rationality forgotten as her hands trembled on her staff's hold. What the hell was going on?

"Necromancers are the antithesis of sorcerers." mumbled Asui to her peer, who eyed the pharmacist with tired eyes. It looks like Asui was kind of exhausted as well. "Their energy naturally draws your energy and sucks it into their bloodstream. Our magic can't do much against them."

"Then, we are _useless_?" exclaimed she, frantic and desperate as the deafness only drew in closer. "We can't do anything?"

"Pretty much." Asui looked at the four warriors in front of them, and eyed Bakugou as he drew his blade in front of his guild mates loyally, which made Asui sigh in relief. "They won't need us that badly. I wouldn't worry much over it."

The brunette had never felt this helpless in her whole life. This was the first time she remembered to have needed to lay down her weapons, nature too cruel and mean to allow her to fight. Her hands trembled in anxiety as the boys aimed for the woman, attempting to nuke her as hard as possible– but their attacks were futile against that agile woman who rejected their attacks with a swing of her damned scepter.

"What the hell, woman?" the leader held a hand up, explosions rippling, and slammed it to the ground as to make it tremble, knocking her back a few meters as it cracked and shook under Bakugou's grasp. "You a look a lil' shaken up! Why don't you come and face us?"

His bravado was all but useful – mused Uraraka solemnly, gripping her staff with strength. A little breeze blew from behind her in the middle of the battle, making her nape feel relieved and her life start beating anew, renewed limbs and decision etched in her thin veins. Asui looked at that dangerous glint of hers, and grew worried for her friend.

"Iida, protect Asui!" called the brunette, making the knight spin to meet her eyes. "I will serve as support for them!"

The brunette treaded towards the fighting blur of colors and smashed the ground with her foot, a column of spikes rippling from beneath and running towards the necromancer, who broke them with ease with a swing of her scepter. Ah, so much for being sneaky, and Bakugou looked at her with exasperation at her for pulling such bland move.

"Oh, we have a newcomer here." Midnight tossed a strand of hair aside and pounded the ground with her weapon. Uraraka heard Bakugou and Kaminari grunt, and they were clutching their heads when she craned her head to meet them. Her eyes grew concerned, but didn't think much of it. "It's good to see a little mage playing with the world as well. We sure are the misunderstood profession, huh."

Her heart was tugging ever so slowly as Midnight stared at her intently, and her stomach lurched as something akin to exhaustion and awkwardness stirred deep inside of her, her brain racking with various facts that suddenly made her feel nervous, anxiety crawling and gnawing from behind as it pulled, pulled, and suddenly impacted on her.

The brunette was almost brought to her knees as energy was drawn from her, replaced with all kinds of negative thoughts that had her mind screaming to stop, weak and fragile, slow and burning. "Disposable." snapped the necromancer, and tugged her hand up to make the ground quake beneath her, sending Uraraka flying towards the depths of the forest.

Kaminari screamed for her name, but was interrupted halfway when her feet scraped the ground and created cushioning spikes of stone and stopped the push, landing on her knees with a hand on the ground, panting. Bakugou and Iida blinked at her, and watched her brush a bead of sweat off her jaw. She might have survived that, but that woman was drawing energy off her too fast.

"You can't die, huh? Miracle girl I shall call you." snarky, egocentric and the pure evil, that woman was. The little sorcerer was able to stand up, and Kaminari instantly came to shield her, whip drawn out and sparkling with bolts. Midnight licked her lips at the blonde boy, who was frowning in a threat at the mad woman. "Don't stare at me so hard, boy."

She dug her scepter a bit harder on the ground, her smirk tightening as Bakugou and Kaminari this time doubled over in pain. They groaned a few curses, but still managed to stand. Bakugou dug his hand into his head and Uraraka saw him tug– wow, he was trying hard. "What kind of game are you playing, damned witch?"

Uraraka's eyes then drew to the staff on Midnight's hand, and watched the skull. Blood rushed to her ears and deafened for a second, a wave of displeasant wind thundering across the small clearing. It sent Bakugou and Kaminari to their feet almost instantly, but Uraraka was quick to bend the current and drive it back to her, sending the mercenary flying meters behind again.

"Fucking shit," mumbled the leader, struggling to stand again now that the other woman was a bit further away, trudging towards Uraraka. "what the fuck are you–"

"She may be a necromancer and…" her legs buckled underneath her, but Bakugou made no attempt to help her stand as in, as he expected, she was able to sustain the swoon and manage to grab her staff for support. "all that. But that doesn't mean we can't use brutal force against her."

Bakugou stretched his fist with his other hand and rolled his neck a little. "I can handle her, but your magic will only nurture her if you use too much of it. It ain't wise at all to go into battle, Uraraka."

The girl eyed him warily, an eyebrow quirked as she finally properly stood up. Midnight was starting to stand up, brushing some dirt off her neck, and Kaminari stepped to his peers again. "She ain't backing off easy, huh?"

"Ain't happening." the leader was still kind of scored on, his legs were quivering in the meanest of ways, and he held his head on his hand. Still, the grimace of a challenge still gung on his face. That made her smirk a little, and his sword hissed in front of her feet. "Not like we can't take that bitch, right?"

Uraraka dug into the ground with a defiant, meancing glint in her eyes, and Kaminari stretched his fists as jolts shot out of them. Still, the girl wasn't sure if they would hold up for much longer. They were panting, willing to fight but their bodies seemed to have other plans. She did hold onto hope despite the circumnstances, and watched the necromancer get to her feet with a horrifyingly pissed expression.

Her head snapped to the cliff she had come from. "What the fuck are you losers doing up there? Get these kids!"

Bakugou already had a plan in mind, and flashed a glare at the bird man. "Bir– Tokoyami, Iida!"

"Got you, _master_." Tokoyami was gone in a flash of shadows, and a screech that Uraraka had to cover her ears from. Iida was gone with the boy, and had left Asui to stride to her companions.

The enemy was gripping her cloak when Uraraka looked up again, and this strange, bleak smile broke free when she had all their attention. Her brow was knit though, showing a contradictory set of emotions. The sad, angry and ravenous vibe never wore off, and only started to wear thin on everyone. The more they looked in her eyes, the more the darkness drew closer.

Bakugou stepped a little bit forward, standing in front of the group. The woman wanted to laugh. She did. "Oh my, such mighty group sending two boys after my mercenaries. I hope you bid them good farewells before this encounter."

Kaminari put Asui behind him in basic instinct. Uraraka, instead of being content with the arrangement, stepped forward as well. "You should be worrying about your people more, old hag."

"What do you–"

A collection of pained screams issued from somewhere in the forest, along with the very same screech they had heard before but double in intensity, as if moaning in misery. It was heartbreaking, yet immensely powerful. Midnight turned at them in disgust after narrowing her eyes at the source of sound. "What even–"

"That must be Tokoyami sorting out the trash, ribbit."

"Tokoyami…?" now that Uraraka thought about it, she didn't even know much about him. As far as she had seen, he didn't even have weapons with him. What the hell was his profession or skill if he even had one? "Well, that's not the thing now!"

Mignight growled at the people who she saw as children, a nuisance, and pounded the ground with her scepter. "Silence!"

"GAH!"

Kaminari and Bakugou let out a loud scream of pain before limping onto the ground, trembling and crawling on the ground for dear life. Kaminari was out of comission in a second, his trembling stopping altogether and his breath haltering. Uraraka gasped and stiffled in a scream as some blood started pooling around the boy's head, white and statics covering her mind as screeches, blood and rain mixed in a metallic pang of worry and panicking.

And above all, red. The red of Bakugou's eyes, squinting at the necromancer as he crawled to her. It was as if gravity was pulling him down and not up as usual, his voice wasn't edgy nor his muscles were tensed in emotion. This was raw, desperate Bakugou, crawling as Uraraka stared from behind.

"Y-You… fucking bitch…"

Moments of void echos vibrated in the zone, and the leader fell out of consciousness, reality leaving his thoughts and movements and he fell, shattered and stopped breathing. When Uraraka and Asui saw the very same crimson blood start falling off Bakugou's closed lids, something snapped in Uraraka. The image came in waves at her, something about it being so _so_ vaguely familiar, yet so very distant and out of reach.

Showered in far away, metallic awry rain, she watched the blood spill from his head, and then looked up at Midnight in pure rage. "What the hell do you think you are doing to my people, witch!?"

"I can't really see the diff–"

" _Shut up_!" Uraraka flung her staff in front of her, ruffles of fire cascading down onto the earth, with lighting, making Midnight jump to a side and avoid the fire crackers.

Her staff touched ground again, and as she crossed her hands, an ancient spirral of chaos and destruction shone under her feet, contained in a white seal of thunder and rocks. "Accept your fate, nothings!"

When she released the seal, a big thunder wave of wind and lighting slammed onto the ground, shook the gravel and sent the brunette flying meters behind, trashing trees at her wake as she flew across the air and landed on a bigger tree, which resisted her push yet made her head hit the trunk pretty bad, clothes scarred and torn with burns on her skin. The area was ruined with a long hallway of broken trees and dust, making Asui frown her eyes at the murderer.

Uraraka didn't get up yet.

Midnight looked at Asui with disdain. She couldn't feel any magic in her, and that… thing wasn't even human. She was a _mutant_. "I don't know what you are, little thing," with a hard thrust on a crack, Asui was flying as a rock pillar sent her out of the ground from below. "but I don't think these kids will need you anymore."

Asui tried her best to flail her arms around for some movement, but Midnight ended discarding her at the river that flowed behind them, and Asui didn't surface from the dark waters either. The necromancer chuckled at the rich collection of decaying bodies in front of her, and saw them writhe a little as she moved. Her scepter articulated a chain with a gripper, that attached itself to Bakugou's neck. It gripped his throat tightly, and as Midnight tugged at the chain, she smirked. Delicious blood dripped down his jaw as his nose bled as well, and she kicked his shoulder as she clenched the chain with her fists.

"Pretty little boy." the tugged at the chains harder, and tried to dislocate his shoulder with another kick from her heeled foot. "Such a disg–"

A explosion was heard in the distance, and Uraraka was sent flying after Midnight as fire rippled from her palm, screaming at the top of her lungs. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" and her body impacted with Midnight's in a deaf sound, movement stilling before the woman was sent straight into the cliff, a cavity created as the necromancer unceremonously landed on the wall.

Uraraka hissed in pain and waved her hand with a little blow. She couldn't understand how Bakugou did that crime on a daily basis without being handicapped for a while, because her hand would bleed and bruise after such compression and explosion of energy. Magic wasn't supposed to hurt her that much physically, but this trick of his was a fucking suicide bomb.

However, Midnight didn't take much longer to be getting up again. Uraraka looked at the river, and alarms rung all over her head, an annoying beep in her ears as the crash left the whole place silent. " _Asui_!"

But a clap of thunder tore the ground beneath her apart, and a huge shadow kicked her on the back as Midnight slammed the scepter into the crevasse. Uraraka rolled dangerously near the river, and the necromancer jumped to this side, snarling. "Disposable little thing." she gave her another kick, and Uraraka was sinking into the waters of the stream.

Her eyes tried to blink open in the dark waters, and could differ some streaks of light stemming into the low ground below her as she floated deeper and deeper. Her hair waved around her like a halo, her torn clothes heavy and caressing her burnt skin, caked in blood and savage intentions that had left her dizzy, confused, and she was almost touching ground now. Luckily for her, the river was particularly still now, but it still carried her onwards little by little.

Uraraka finally fluttered her eyes open, and silence greeted her surroundings aside from occasional bubbling. She tried to make out her surroundings in the muddy waters and found out that some wounds were stinging her like bees, so she gripped her hand for dear life. Her back was throbbing as well, which wasn't very good either.

She grimaced. That nasty necromancer was for sure doing bad things to the bodies of her friends, and she had been so fired up at the thought of having to celebrate a burial in such nice day. Her eyes had lit up, teeth clenched as an avalanche of disarrayed emotions whirled through her– only to die here, at the hands of muddy water and a laughing sociopath.

She looked at her bruised hands, then at the surface, and tried to flail a bit a move. Nothing. She kicked her feet around, nothing. Not knowing how to actually swim only came to her mind now, and she would have cursed loudly if it hadn't been for the water making its way into her esophagus, ice and fire fighting as it burned, scrorched, and she clenched her eyes in pain.

Then, something frail and lukewarm enveloped her in the muddy darkness, and she let herself be taken.

Midnight kicked Kaminari's unconscious body a little, humming in approval. "He would make for good fodder. I can use him as a delicious container, though… heh, so many possibilities for my people, to–"

A loud splash of water rumbled behind Midnight, and she turned to witness Asui enveloped ina massive bubble of water, Uraraka tucked under her arm as one of her hands was shot forward– and the pair floated in the ball of tides before Asui unleashed the currents onto the unsuspecting Midnight. "River Enchanting: _Dragon Slash_!"

The bubble disappeared into the shape of a roaring transparent dragon that screeched and pushed Midnight deep across the forest, creating a streak of havoc that threw the enemy out of the clearing, devastated trees and created a little earthquake when it smashed the necromancer onto the ground, throwing her to the dirt below.

Asui left an almost unmoving Uraraka on the ground as she effortlessly strode a bit towards the streak of destruction, no signs of pride showing whatsoever the moment she saw the wrecked, shaking bodies of her peers on the ground. The other sorcerer made an attempt to lift her head, and started coughing out water like a sprinkled as soon as she was conscious enough.

As Asui stepped nearer, she glared at Midnight like she had never done. "Don't underestimate a little girl like me, _hunter_."

Midnight hissed dangerously at the herbalist, crouched and wiping some dirt and blood clean from her face. "Not worth the pain, fucking children." she tucked her head under the hoodie of her cloak and fled out of the scene, letting Asui breathe in relief while rushing to Uraraka's side.

The girl was trying to spit all water out of her lungs, clutching her chest while grunting and grimacing at her blisters and cuts. "Are you alright, Uraraka?"

Cough, cough. "Y-yeah, just–" she closed and opened her bruised hand, sighing in relief when there was no open wound that could have been polluted by the water. "– kinda peachy. the others though…"

Uraraka scrambled to her feet and hurried over Bakugou to slap his cheeks a few times, then shook him. The fallen leader only breathed a little bit, blood falling down his nose and trailing on his cheek. Uraraka craddled him on her arms while Asui checked on Kaminari. She wasn't even thinking, all she wanted now was for him to wake up, just wake up, jus–

"Uraraka, stop!" she couldn't understand. Why was seeing Bakugou hurt hammering so hard on her? Her heart wasn't beating that hard, she wasn't breathing heavily– no signs of distress, yet, why was she clutching his head so tightly?

Metallic thunder and rain clapped in another place, falling down on them in another story, another world, another time. _It was raining somewhere else_.

" _Mother_ …"

"We must hurry!" the brunette eased one of his arms around her neck carefully, and wrapped her own arm around his waist, getting up. "We need to take them to the nearest village, quickly!"

Asui obediently tucked her own arm around Kaminari, who almost toppled over and crushed her with his weight. "Couldn't you use your ability, though? We could take them there faster."

"Impossible." and Uraraka regretted saying this, because if she had spent more time training her skills rather than chatting around, she would be able to take them flying somewhere safe. "My ability gives me terrible nausea if I overuse it. I haven't had enough training to–" she adjusted Bakugou's body on her side with a grunt. "–to actually develop it properly. Damn it."

"We should manage until we get to our next stop, but we will have to make it a race." Asui looked around her, searching for the right path in the midst of the forestal havoc around them. "We will have to make Iida sprint to the village and tell the others to give us a hand. Yaoyorozu is our best hand to play here."

Uraraka took a cautious step, shrugging his body closer– then another. She could manage. "This guy sure is heavy, but alright. I gotta… be strong, and push on." this last bit was murmured more for herself, mentally lost in the middle of a clearing of confusion, worry and searing heat around them.

But Asui smiled anyway.

* * *

When Bakugou came to, he felt like wherever he was, it was the wrong place.

His fingertips scraped the soft thing underneath him, tilting his head a bit when he was met with a soft blanket, rough at the edges, but smooth all the same. His head was on something bland, and his neck, bandaged and kind of tight. It was stitchy. His arms felt sore as well, and his wrist was pained, swollen much probably.

His mind did the kind gesture of backtracking a bit, then heard noises out of the place he was in. He clenched his eyes close for a second as light started filtering it, hinges sounding, and steps trudged around him.

"Bakugou?"

The leader woke up with a start when he saw Asui staring at him right in the face, not more than a few inches away from his nose. "What the actual fuck, frog girl!"

"I was expecting you to remember my name or _at least_ call me by it. Whatever." the blonde boy supported himself on his elbows and looked at her go to a little table at the end of his brown, orange and white room. There were a lot of medical supplies there. "Try to rest. You weren't easy to fix."

His eyes trailed down his abdomen, but no bandages rested there. There was nothing in his arms, excepting his hands, and then he had one wrapped around his forehead, something heavy straped on it. Bakugou let out a big breath of exhaustion as the events from last–

"How long…" Asui came to remove the damp cloth from his head and nodded. "have I been here?"

"Two days." answered the girl quickly, and dried the cloth on a nearby bucket. "Midnight did a number on you and Kaminari."

–right, two days since that stupid witch, a spawn of the devil, came to play with him. He felt impossibly weak after being so beaten up, and undeniably weak and stupid. He wondered: what would had he looked like, laying half dead on the ground at the mercy of such a powerful enemy like that woman? The ground had cracked evenly beneath his muscles, pain rippling inside his mind– and suddenly, he was no more. The aftermath was rough, but so was the fall.

"Ribbit! Don't burn the mattress, Bakugou!" smoke was steaming from his hands, and Asui had to slap them off before he had no bed to sleep on.

He frowned and attempted to sit on the bed. When Asui tapped his shoulder, he extended his arm obediently, stil fuming over his defeat. "I just can't believe that bitch got me so damn good…" Asui quietly damped his neck and shoulder on oilments, and looked over his arm with critical eye. "Damn that Jirou clan… They are no good news."

The girl gave his neck a final squeeze and retreated back a little to squeeze the water out of the cloth on a bucket. "She was overpowered, there was no hope for us to win. All Uraraka and I could do was knock her around a little bit. Thank god she got tired of us quickly."

Bakugou frowned when that damn sorcerer's name came into the topic, and hissed with deep hatred. She sure must have had the time of her life laughing at his decaying corpse while she nuked that necromancer. "Of course you were able to play with her." he didn't know who he was exactly referring to, but he was getting pretty mad at the image of him laying and Uraraka standing and fighting. "Fucking sure you could."

"Sheesh, calm down." Asui stared at Bakugou shredding the blankets again. Such a waste of bed clothing. "It's fine. You don't need to be the one stomping on others' heads all the time. Does it really make you _that_ mad we were the ones who got her to escape?"

"I don't fucking care you were able to get her out of our tails. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you girls doing something." his grimace got so drunken in rage and regret that he had to close his eyes and seethe in silence. "But I can't get over that damn midget–"

" _Oh_ , so this is about Uraraka, even after all this time."

The leader craned his head slowly to glare at the herbalist, who clearly didn't give a fuck about his little grudges with her. "Don't sass me either, you damn–"

"No, really. I can understand what you mean." condoned Asui, a finger to her mouth. Judging by Bakugou's surprised face, frown squished in wonder, she had all his attention. "We are all aware of what Uraraka is capable of doing. There will come a moment when she will surpass our own expectations, and she will step over us in power."

"Yes, damn straight." agreed he, slamming a fist on the ruined blankets with a snarl. "Finally, someone sees my point–"

"However," of course, she had to ruin the little communication they had. "that doesn't mean she is a menace to us. All this time, she has proven to us that she had a good heart in many ocassions. Do I have to remind you of how she still tries to talk to you despite your foul personality?"

Bakugou almost jumped out of the bed and knocked her to a better life, but decided against it because, after all, she was the one curing him. "I am a damn delight!" he slumped on the wall, arms crossed and pouted, nose wrinkled in distaste. "And it's not like she is trying. She just doesn't get the damn hint I don't wanna be her friend, and if it was up to me, I'd fucking have her head on a wall."

"You still personally accepted into the guild, though."

"When will you all stop rubbing that in my face!?" screamed he, but Asui still continued stirring some creams and treatments on a flask, herbs smashed on a little handkerchief. "Damn her, and fuck her cheeks, her staff, and her ass pity! I don't need anything from her."

"Stop sulking." scolded the water sorcerer with a minimal scowl, disliking such childish displayal. "If you were an actual mature leader, you would have put this grudge of yours aside and looked at the situation with critical eye. I understand that you may not like her, but she has saved your ass many times now."

"EXCU–"

"Listen," she cut him off gently, like a little knife in fire cutting a solid cube of ice butter, her eyes soft and hands fidgeting beneath his eyes set aflame. "for starters, it was _her_ who got up after a solid, killing blow and knocked Midnight out of the clearing. I was the one who ended up kicking her off, yes–"

"Again, it's not like I don't aknowledge her strength, but I don't own her a–"

"–but she was the one who actually saved you" not Kaminari, not Asui, nobody else but him, and he could see that tint of insistance in the pharmacist's eyes. "from probably getting _necked_ off. When she saw you in such bad state, for some reason I can't comprehend, she went berserk. Afterwards, she personally carried your ungrateful ass to the village, and helped me tend your severe wounds– wounds that, mind you, would have been worse if it weren't for her."

Such rush of information caught Bakugou off guard, and he actually flinched at the accusatory tone in Asui's tired voice. Now that he noticed, she had bags under her eyes, her hair was unkempt, and her skin has several untreated wounds. Was Uraraka in such state as well? After saving his ass, after actually carrying him here, was she untreated and disarrayed like this snarky pharmacist was? The thought suddenly didn't bode well with him, and something akin to shame panged at his heart. He swatted it away quickly though.

"Look, I know that you don't like her, and you will probably never even be friends with her. Nobody is actually asking for such miracle." Asui padded next to the leader, who glanced at her in thought. She had never seen so silent in her whole life. "But she doesn't deserve this rage after going out of her way for you in these occassions. In the same way you think you don't need to thank her, she doesn't need to do anything for you – it's not her obligation, it's not necessary, but she still wants to help you out anyway."

Out of the blue, his grudges were kept under the shadows and they just stopped nagging at him, stopped putting him on edge, and let him take control of the situation. It was true that the sorcerer was usually nice at him – well, apart from the times when she only went to him to pester and ask ridiculous questions, but that wasn't the point. Uraraka was a threat, hell yes, she would always be one – but that didn't really need to stay that way forever.

Up to now, all she had done was put his guild out of trouble when he was either too small or the situation was too big. She was undeniably powerful, had a strong will, and needed to bloom in so many ways. She was a sorcerer, a threat to humankind he needed to keep his eyes on– but things didn't need to be that way. It was hard to stick to such beliefs, but now that he thought about it, it was more tiring to dislike her than just humor her.

He eyed Asui warily, giving up. He could try to be _actively_ cooperative and stop taking steps _back_.

"And how am I supposed to be nice to her?"

The girl didn't show any signs of relief or happiness, just nodded and flashed a little smile. "You could start by going to see her. She left a few hours ago, said something about studying, and scrambled off. Maybe thanking her would make her day a bit better after slaving herself for your sake."

"Thanking her?" the concept seemed painfully foreign to him.

"Remember, Bakugou… she may one day tire of being nice to you. It may seem like a good riddance now, but trust me she is a keeper." and he had been told about that a few times now. Kirishima and Kaminari had talked pretty well about her, and all he had done to condemn those opinions was accept her into the guild. He had felt like he had done enough with that, but it was seemingly too little of an action.

The blonde hunter sighed tiredly. In a way, her studying for their trainings, for his guild, after tending his wounds for being a wimp… it wasn't really fair. He was a fair dude. He wanted justice in his guild. He could give her justice and try to make it all easier for them both– and his guild, remembered he with a grimace.

"Yeah, whatever. Just gonna get this over with so you guys stop giving me earfuls about her being a fucking miracle." grunted an ugly breath of discontentment and dettached himself from the wall. "Can I walk, though?"

"Of course you can." he sat on the edge of the bed, hands clasping the blankets with care. He would probably have to pay for those. "Your neck will feel sore for a while, and your wrist is kind of swollen too, but that should be gone in a day. For now, take it easy."

Bakugou played a bit with both parts, twisting his wrist – it hurt – and craning his neck – that did, too, and he slammed a hand on it with a hiss. "Fine. Just give me some treatments so this nuisance is gone. Where is Uraraka at?"

"This is our room, but she didn't want to be disturbed or disturb us, so she is taking an empty room for now." seriously, who told her to be so goddamn nice? Bakugou growled a little. Was she trying to purposefully make him feel bad? He hadn't given her a reason to do such things, just… "It's the one at the end of the hallway, with the pot on its side. Try not to be too brash, alright? You just woke up."

The leader brushed past her, fetched a simple shirt from the hanger by the door and hurried inside of it with enormous urges to get such mental burden out of the way. He had no time to deal with petty businesses like these: he needed to focus on RampAge, on the timeline, on saving it and saving his comrades. It seems like he would have to get Uraraka to feel like one to start with.

"I ain't moody, frog-girl." grunted he over his shoulder, biting back so many insults that, after some silent thinking, she didn't deserve. "I'll come back to get some painkillers. Pray for that brat's safety."

Asui was about to say something about it, but her voice died when the leader slammed the door close was left with heavy stride towards the damned door. He squinted and saw that the mentioned pot was red, giving him all kinds of bad vibes. Each step he took felt like a stab into his pride and all morals he had been building these years, like tearing a wall down brick by brick. She gave him that uneasy feeling of being defenseless in front of her straightforward attitude, how she was unaffected by his remarks.

He hat– no, he _didn't_ hate her. He didn't want to kill her, either, he decided. She was worth keeping, but she didn't need to make him feel bad about it. He hadn't done anything to deserve such treatment. He didn't owe her anything more than a simple _thank you_. He had already decided that she didn't mean any evil by being so… like this, and all he could do was try to make it easier for her.

Bakugou just shut his critical part of his brain and acted as his fair heart wanted to. He couldn't cut her off the picture anymore when she was so adamant on sticking by him. It annoyed him, yes, baceuase she felt like a liar, because he didn't need it– but, apparently, his guild and him sometimes needed her. And for actually being there, she deserved the recognition. Even if she annoyed him.

Knocking on the door with obvious impatience, he have the pot a kick for the sake of keeping his personal tastes in check. He then knocked again, and again, but nobody answered. It came to him that the door was unlocked after a rather violent hit, and he opened it with uncanny precaution.

Bakugou groaned way too loud when he saw her slumped over the table, too many books and scrolls crowding the desk and her head tuked on her arms, on top of a book that seemed to be almost compeltely read– seems like exhaustion got the best of her and she had collapsed before reading the book and had, consequently, overworked herself to this extent.

Uraraka was too hard-working. It unnerved him for a reason, because she didn't need to do this and instead she went on and did it. The world wouldn't stop spinning if she took a rest after taking care of him, she didn't need to make him see her worth so hard. Not like _this_ after saving his ass. A small wave of new guilt came crashing on him, overwhelmed him for a second. The world faded, there was only her, books, bags on her eyes and wounds on her arms, blisters, burns.

She didn't deserve this. The feeling overtook him before he whacked the chair she was on to silence his heart. "Yo, Uraraka, what the hell."

The sorcerer didn't even budge at his brash attempt, only snuggled deeper into her arms and mumbled something under her breath. The leader angrily kicked the table, which shook, but didn't wake her at all. Talk about heavy sleepers. He gave her shoulder a little shake and silently seethed over how cold she was. Now that he thought about it, the room itself was abnormally cold.

"Damn it, Uraraka." he tried to keep it in, but he never did good with unbehaving people. He slammed the table with his hand and made all materials quiver, including the sorcerer. "Fucking wake up already!"

Uraraka flung her head back with a start, almost hitting Bakugou on her side, and somehow resumed reading the book in front of her. "Sorry! Right, so, humankind tried to–"

He smacked her neck with a fist, angered at such careless attitude. "What in the world are you doing, Uraraka?"

The girl moaned and rubbed her neck with a pout, then yawned but stopped halfway, such gruff and hoarse voice so rich and vivid that she recognized it I a second too late. She turned her head to glance up at the livid leader, who had a hand on her chair. "Oh, Bakugou! It's good to see you awake!"

The sorcerer blinked, some tears of sleepyness trailing down her cheeks, and yawned again. He grit his teeth and had this inhuman urge to close all her books and make her rest for a damn second. "What the fuck are you doing? Shouldn't you be sleeping after being my nurse or something?"

He mentioned the issue so lightly that if she took it into consideration for more than a second, he didn't notice. Uraraka turned to the books, then him. "Right! Well, I just had some spare time to finish off some books Yaoyorozu gave me, so I could go get some new volumes at the local library tomorrow, because you see, what I was given was kinda…"

She trailed off for a few seconds, holding Bakugou onto a line of broken dialogue, then she yawned and that was the last nail on the coffin for him. "I don't give a fuck about it, go to sleep already. It won't do any good for you to be limping around when we train."

Bakugou then noticed that one of her hands was completely wrapped up in bandages, as was that very same arm. In fact, some medications laid around the room and he was starting to freak out over this woman. What kind of alien civilization educated her to be _this_ crazy? All she was doing was straining herself. He didn't give a fuck if she had a bad time while being rough on herself, he wouldn't be crossing over that line anytime soon.

However, as much as he tried to stifle those thoughts, the excuse of this load of work being bad for the overall guild seemed kind of unfounded after all she had gone through because of him. She didn't really deserve that, but again, he couldn't bring himself to care that much. Still, he gave her another shake when she started dozing off on him. "Oi, at least hold up until I leave the room."

"Oh! You are… right." the brunette rubbed her eyes awake and looked at him from lidded eyes, peeking. Exhaustion swam all around her, she had this nasty ability to transfix feelings so damn easily. "What did you need, though? There is no way you would come to check on me without a reason."

One of his eyes actually twitched after what sounded like an accusation, but he didn't verbally express it because… nah, it wasn't worth it. "Just go to sleep already. It ain't worth it anymore."

"Are you–"

Bakugou got a handful of her hair and smashed her head – slowly, though, as to not break the books – on the table. "Yes, I am sure. Just rest for a while. That's…"

That was the least she deserved.

"Hm?" she didn't even make an effort to get up, and only looked at him as he turned around to leave her. Her eyes were closing on their own, submerging her into a field of flickering blackness and swimming, scattered mumbling. "What is it?"

"Tch." Bakugou shook his head and went for the knob, and before he knew it, she was breathing evenly again. He turned to her again, and was proven right when her eyes were closed, mouth parted and chest rising and falling under his irritated glare.

His head snapped to a blob of reds on a chair in a corner of the room, and a part of him wanted to walk the extra mile and get that blanket and suffocate her so she wouldn't feel the coldness of the room. After a minute of glaring daggers into the fabric, he gave it a rest and turned heel again. He had done enough already, no need to overdo it.

Yet, right before leaving, his eyes trailed over her slomped form and sighed, vexation finding itself into him again and he closed the door, softly, muttering something about this being useless, her being irritating… but he still decided that he would be giving her the message he had intended to.

She always made him feel so many contradictory emotions. He wanted to respect her and be nice, but she made it so very difficult by being so unbearably… hardworking, determined. He didn't like admitting that Asui may have been right in most parts of her version.

Still, he didn't care. Uraraka could go and sleep around all corners and cut herself an arm as long as she didn't bother him. And _this_ didn't bother him.

Not a single bit.

* * *

Uraraka hadn't rested. Against Bakugou's ever so gentle orders, her head hadn't found a drop of rest in the pages of this massive book of history. When her eyes fluttered open, about half an hour after Bakugou's departure, a load of other volumes presented themselves in front of her eyes.

She glared pointedly at them, and frowned. It was a miracle she had managed to swallow so much information on a sole go after the battle with Midnight, or dealing with a Bakucorpse and the aftermath of it all. After being warned that she needed to train her abilities more to avoid situations like these in the future, she had gotten as many books from her bag and read as much as possible. The rest… it had rolled off casually, really.

In a moment, she had found herself wrapping a blanket around herself and padding to Midoriya's dorm, which stood right in the other hallway of the little residence, and she had been given a clear response on the matter before she had even completed her request.

" _No_."

Uraraka puffed her cheeks at Midoriya, who balanced himself on a chair. Lots of documents rested on his desk, unopened envelopes and maps, and she couldn't help feeling like an intruder in his room. "Are you kidding me? Why not?"

"For starters, I don't know why you want more books after Yaoyorozu gave a pretty reasonable amount of them. I don't understand why you have decided to finish them off so quickly either."

"Well, I just wanted to get things out of the way! After Midnight gave us such scare, I can't go on without some kind of training. I can't train with Bakugou having RampAge on the loose, not in ideal condtions anyway." the leader shook his head with a bashful smile that made her hold her breath. "What's so good about the situation anyway?"

"You and Bakugou are so alike sometimes… such a shame he will never see you in that way." he sighed, but there was this kind smile he always had on despite being serious. This man was levelheaded and calm, smiling and kind. It reminded her of Todoroki in some ways, but Midoriya was clearly more outspoken than the other boy would ever be. "Still, I don't want you go to overworking yourself any longer. You have other things to worry about."

Uraraka crossed her arms, folding her hands on her elbows and tapping relentlessly. "I won't overwork myself. It's not like the situation doesn't require some–" she had him frowning straight away, so she had to instantly cover it up. "but still! I know it's not healthy for me either! And it will hit the guild if I falter."

Since she was lying a little bit, she even used Bakugou's words for reference. Turns out she was using Bakugou's methods and awful lot lately. Uraraka couldn't make anything good out of it. "Please, Midoriya! I won't overwork myself."

"Can't take the risk, Uraraka. You are also straining yourself too much by even being here so late in the night."

"The sun just set."

" _Still_."

Both sighed in dejection, as they wouldn't reach a meeting point anytime soon. Midoriya wanted his guild mates to rest idle and easy, Bakugou as well. Then existed Uraraka as an oppositing force that would do anything to fight and become a fearsome professional on her own. She had the will, she had the strength, why not let her stretch the gum a little more?

"Doesn't matter, I guess." breathed the girl in a whisper the other didn't hear. "I will just go have a walk around the village or something. I don't think I'll be able to have a brink of sleep after all this."

Uraraka bowed a little with a small smile, and turned swiftly to leave. Just as Midoriya's chair scraped to meet the table again and focus on the matters at hand, Uraraka faltered in her step. "I don't wish to be too inquisitive, but…"

Midoriya turns a little to regard her, his eyes interested on whatever business she is about to say. Again, this boy had this strange ability to make her feel warm and kind inside, always listening to her requests and cheering on her. Her mind was always at ease when she was with him, his words well intended and his attitude collected and nice. She now wondered why, somehow, she had ended hanging around Bakugou instead of _him_.

Fate was not on the same wavelength as her, for sure.

"Why is Bakugou so… perpetually on edge with you?" this seemed to startle him, and maybe this wasn't the right mood in which to ask so Uraraka stumbled to explain. "I know this is a sudden thing to ask but… it's weird to see two leaders be so distant from each other. Don't mind me if I'm being a gossip and stuff but I just–"

"Please, Uraraka, it's fine." cuts he in, waving her worry off with this little shine of his eyes that was so sweet to her and endearing. "It's an old story, no need to even mention it. He is just…" he measures his words, rolls them around his tongue and them lets them fall off in a trail of sad thoughts. There is senseless regret there, too. "let's say he just doesn't like me much for… reasons, personal reasons. We are working it through."

"But–"

"It's fine, Uraraka. For now, just focus on resting. Wander around a bit if that will help you sleep." the girl had so many words inside of her to still say, but she forcefully swallowed them and gulped, a hand outstretched in shock. "There will be several fairs around town we will be attending soon, maybe you can check some out now!"

And she blinked– blinked because Midoriya had been so quick to raise the shield and silently kick her out before she said too much, asked too much. If there was something she knew right now was that this wasn't her place, so she gave it all up and sighed, shrugging. "Yes, I will do that."

Surprisingly enough, she didn't sound edgy at all there was this scratchy knot in her throat from both exhaustion and the feeling of having this unbreakable wall in front of her that separated her from the nice leader, and having been so blunt about it seemed like lack of respect for him. In a bow of silence, the girl turned and left with a little nod of her head, leaving the leader to sort his business, which sure weren't small.

She found herself slowly trailing down the stairs of the building, her red blanket trailing behind her with the swoosh of the night breeze. The weather wasn't humid, wasn't dry either, just lukewarm and pleasant. Still, probably due to her tiresome schedule, something was off about it. There was a mild disturbance in the air, something about her stride was too fast, and people around her minded their own business when they felt so far away from her.

Right before leaving the small building, she noticed that the main door had no knob to open it with. She turned to a maid hurrying around the lobby. "Excuse me, miss! Ex– excuse me?"

The blonde woman halted her frantic race to look at Uraraka, a basket of dirty clothes to wash on her arms. "Is there anything you need?"

"Well, I wonder how… I know this may sound stupid but," she signaled at the door behind her with a thumb, smile bashful and the other hand clutching the blanket around her. She also realized her hat was gone. "how do you open the front door? Do I have to push it open? I feared it would–"

The maid arched an eyebrow at her after looking behind her shoulder. "Miss, I'm afraid there must be a mistake."

She pointed at the door, and Uraraka was met with a silver knob shinning teasingly under the lights of the candle chandelier above them. Her breath staggered in her mouth, swirled and got heavy like lead, falling down her stomach and crushing any sense of tranquility inside of her. Her thoughts, her little antics and whatever spark in her doe eyes faded to black, and her jaw trembled, shivered and cackled against her upper teeth.

The maid wasn't there anymore, only the feeling of being forcefully scraped out of the world and everything felt even odder than before, drearier, and all she could wonder was how the situation had gotten to this point. It had to be the timeline being messed up again – concluded she, gulping a big bubble of thick realization, eyes wide as saucers. The walls crumbled, the paintings fell and the maid disintegrated to flesh and bones, no more a woman, but a corpse.

This situation was… wrong. It was wrong in so many levels.

The sorcerer slowly touched the doorknob and finally released a load of relief when it didn't bite her, or burnt her skin. She twisted it and she didn't even bother looking behind her to watch the maid leave, just high tailed it out and closed the door behind her.

The small village was soaring to life, apparently. There was this small bonfire near her, at the center of the village, and some stands of warm food and little silly games were put around her zone. Her eyes drank from the orange flicker of the torches, ears tingling when she heard childish laughter – a few children came running near her, and she had to step away before they crushed her, all with a smile. The moon was high in the horizon, stars covered by some clouds, but it was beautiful in every way.

Her orbs roamed, her body idle, and when her eyes landed on a little tent, she snapped and her heart jumped. Some building away from hers stood a little purple tent, beady with crystals and lacking a door, just a curtain to let curious wanderers in. If she was insistent enough, a small quantity of incense could be noticeable.

Her feet made the way to the tent without the sorcerer really realizing it, and Uraraka found herself peeking from the curtain. Inside, there was only a little table, two candles lit with blue fires, and a deck of cards. The small breeze made her hair sway with the gentleness of its caress. She tucked a strand behind her ear before speaking out.

"Hello? Good night… I am–"

"Welcome, dear."

Uraraka was near to smacking a hinge off the fabric tent when the woman made an appearance in a cloud of mist, her head cocked to a side after seeing the little girl so shaken. Darkness embraced her like a second skin, the lights wrapping around her clothes in a mysterious, whimsical aura of obiquity and deep intentions, covered by a veil. All Uraraka could make out of her was her infinite trail of black hair, impolite porcelain skin and a black dress. And the thought of the woman unconsciously hiding her identity only made Uraraka feel further away from this world, tucked safely on this very small tent where incense fleeted on a thick cloud of dense air, hard to pin down but still offputting.

"I'm glad you came." again, it was like a golden thread of smooth silk touching her, that voice. It was enticing and pleasant to hear. "Not much people entrust their lives with oracles these days. Your eyes though… seem troubled." she took a break before saying these words. "And exhausted."

Uraraka tangled her fingers on the back of her head and rubbed, rubbed, because those eyes of hers were echoing so hard into hers, and the air was again, too thick. She couldn't see them move, yet she could _feel_ her as if she was an inch away from her. "Ah, well, I didn't have much sleep tonight, miss. I was walking around here and saw this little place."

"Tell me, young girl." she reached out and lifted Uraraka's chin up, and she didn't put much of a fight. "What is it that troubles you?"

The sorcerer shuddered under her touch, and felt some kind of void when the woman busied her hands in shuffling the tarot cards. Whoever this oracle was, she had this power to draw information from her ever so easily. Her voice was soft and sweet like honey, but intentions and movements sharp like a razor blade. Still, the incense tingled around her, calming these feelings down.

"Well, I have been having these… weird dreams, nightmares. It can be any of both, really, but they follow the same theme, the same story." Uraraka crossed her arms, trying to remember vivid images of it all. But all she could see now was a smiling girl, sunflowers in her hands and bloodstains on her dress. "I don't know who it is about… I see it all as a spectator, as an omnipotent force who can do nothing but stare."

"Dreams and nightmares, a classic." the woman laid the deck on the table, and folded her arms beneath her chest. "If you are having these occurrences, it means that something is calling out for you. Tell me, could they be something akin to lost memories?"

"I… I don't believe that to be the case." despite that being the only likely scenario, Uraraka found herself ending up denying the possibility. "I never woke up with any sense of recollection, or bonds for that matter. The feelings fade from the memory fast, but they leave scars. I can feel it all," she raised her shaking hand to the light of a candle, black swallowing her palm, and then closed it. No sense of completion got to her, so she mourned in silence. "but it's all like a far away feeling… I get this inkling it all may have to do with my dreams."

The woman had listened obediently and nodded, it was her turn to play her role now. "I see, I can understand the trouble. Do you wish to make them disappear?"

Uraraka recalled having heard names from people she knew in those wild sets of dreams, adding fuel to the fire. "I'd want to find out what they mean, and then get rid of them, if it's possible."

The woman chuckled, but it wasn't an evil kind of laugh. "It _is_ possible, dear." her hands disappeared from the table, and Uraraka's breath was again dancing inside her lungs, stuck, when she drew out an ivory knife, golden handle and black dots on the back. "I will need a droplet of your blood."

She took the sharp knife with dainty hands, testing its weight, and Asui's lessons suddenly came to mind. "Do you plan to create some kind of potion with it?"

"Not exactly." the oracle hit the deck to even all the cards, and tapped it twice. "These cards shall tell what those dreams mean, for which I will need to identify you. Your blood is all I need."

Used to specific information, accurate data and loads of nearby facts, somebody being this vague struck hard in her, and she found herself feeling wrong in this place. The smell of incense and tightness was squeezing her heart in a vicious clap, all swirling around her madly as she stood in the eye of the hurricane. It was wrong, but at the same time, what could she do in this situation?

The girl sighed, dedicated a last look at the oracle, and cut the back of her palm with the knife. Rich, crimson blood started flowing out of it steadily, and when the oracle pushed the deck near to her, Uraraka tightened her palm into a fist and a newborn drop fell on the deck. As soon as the blood touched the deck, it vanished into a little puff of burnt paper, leaving only two cards on the table.

"These two will tell you all information you need to know." condemned the oracle, her eyes swirling around Uraraka's– and god, she could feel everything in this room sharpening, making her feel light-headed, and somewhere along the way her recollection of even entering this place left her. "We will lift the first card, now."

Her nails scraped the table, then flipped the card. Uraraka recognized it, and the view left her speechless for a second, a shadow setting behind her eyes as fear and horror soaked her whole.

" _The Hanged Man_." spoke the oracle, solemnly. When the sorcerer didn't even ask about it, she lifted an eyebrow at her. "No need to alarm. There are no cards that are directly negative, but since this affects your dreams, I reckon you should be paying more attention to them."

"What…" her heart shrunk in her ribcage, eyes staring in disbelief at the glaring image. Her hand fisted the blanket around her. Uraraka only knew that the oracle's voice had turned somewhat colder, only lukewarm, and heartfelt. "what is _this_ supposed to mean?"

"A crossroad." she took the card with two hands and showed it to the shivering girl. The image boomed inside the girl's dampening mind, drunken in incense and high on clashing emotions that had her heart near an arrest. The fires lit up against the card. "A road that will have you make a decision. There will come a moment in your life when you will have to make a decision– an important one."

"A… decision." whispered Uraraka, her brow knit but trembling in confusion as danger thrived in a far away place from this, a very different time and very different circumstances. Her eyes drifted to a corner to not let this compelling sentence crush her, and the oracle nodded curtly. "What does this have to do with my dreams?"

"Your dreams are trying to guide you through your decision. They are posing different the options you may not see now, but you which you will see in the future. Someday, you will have to face a choice. And it may not make you happy, or others for that matter." murmured the oracle, yet her voice blared in the other's ears.

So she shifted her hands on her lap and let it all sink in slowly, letting the thread leisurely snap inside of her, letting bleakness and obscure colors sneak up on her. "I… see."

The oracle checked on her for a second, then flipped the next and last card when Uraraka nodded at her to proceed. The view afterwards pleased Uraraka to an extent, but the feeling dimmed quickly when the oracle only stared deep in thought. When the oracle caught the sorcerer shifting her eyes between her and the cards, a long sigh escaped her lips and fanned the veil.

" _The Hierophant_." judging by her solemn tone, that wasn't good news. However, she was now avoiding Uraraka's inquisitive irises, which were searching for clues in the oracle's hidden expression. There was a ghost of a grimace in her voice. "It comes to affirm all I have been told to this very moment."

Uraraka tiptoed around the topic carefully, and doubted about what to say next. She found her ground a solid minute later. "What… does it mean?"

"It means making a choice. A _good_ , correct choice." responded the oracle, her tone dripping with grieving and sheer disgrace. Despite this card being shinier and overall more positive than the last one, she was talking about it as if it was a pure curse. Her presence loomed over Uraraka as darkness peeked again. "It means stopping for a second, breathing and rethinking about which is the good choice."

"As in, backtracking?"

"Kind of." agreed she. The black haired oracle stared at the cards, now set on the table, then back at Uraraka. She let out a loud grunt after a while, and if the sorcerer could tell with perfect certainty, she would swear teeth were glistening underneath the veil. "You will be confronted with a very tough decision, which may be why your dreams exist in the first place– to guide you to the right decision."

"But…" her eyes were shadowed by a sad frown and a slight descent of her plump lips, her face a ghost of the cheery girl she always was as a grim foreshadowing hovered over her head and settled over her shoulders, responsibility breaking her heart. "what is the right decision?"

"I'd say that's up to you to decide. If the cards insist this much on this decision, it must be a very important one." theorized the oracle, tracing the hem of the cards carefully. Uraraka nodded intently, her eyes flickering in intensity under the blanket of incense. "The cards seem to sense a relationship between your dreams and your future, so they are building up until the day this decision comes. Again, if the cards are so adamant on this… the world could very well be resting on your shoulders."

Those last words shook her and it felt like a little knife brushing her skin, tender and slow, up and down, as it loomed around her for a surprise strike. Danger was always so close to her, showing its claws in oh, _so_ many ways… yet, it would never present her with the reality that so many pointed at her. Everything… it all just looked like a dream, or a nightmare– she couldn't decide, but it seemed like all she could do now was wait for time to come to her.

Not like it helped the situation, knowing that a responsibility she didn't understand hung on her shoulders an unknown number of days, weeks or months away. It was all so ambigue and uncertain it left Uraraka wondering if she should believe all this woman was saying, but decided to stick to it as a burning pole, blistering her skin and bruising her but serving as a flashlight in the darkness.

"I… see. Then, they _are_ important, huh?" the oracle nodded, and Uraraka tried to wrap her mind around this fact, because they were nothing but a hassle that didn't seem to have anything to do with her life. They weren't really making that of an impact on her yet: just a little girl, a village, then another. What did _she_ of all people have to do with that? "I still can't see the relation between them… but I guess they will come in time, right?"

The oracle was too busy to actually listen to Uraraka, but she nodded anyway. Her hands fetched for a little flask under the table. She made the transparent liquid dance a little inside the doe-shaped recipient to test its volume, then handed it to the girl with… haste? Her hands had trembled when Uraraka had brushed them, and the oracle had been quick to wave her off. "Now, if you truly desire to erase those dreams from your mind, you must leave and drink that potion."

The girl got up with newfound excitement, eyeing the colorless fluid in the flask. It was as like creamy water on a legendary bottle, and it felt so exciting to both have such recipient and the possibility to get rid of those nasty dreams. If there ever came a point that she needed to choose in an important matter, all she needed to do was listen to her heart. There was nothing her heart didn't know, right?

"Thank you very much, miss!" she vowed gently as she always did, a smile dancing on her now energetic step. "I hope we can meet someday!"

Before Uraraka could head out the curtains, the oracle offered her the fateful cards. "Take them, so you can remember this time. Save them as reference, they may save your life one day."

The sorcerer blinked at the weird request, and didn't miss the shiver on the stoic woman's arm. She leaped to the table again and took both cards under the fire of blue, quiet lights, purple fabric covering them as a quiet deal was stuck. "I will take them then, if you may."

The brunette put them inside one of her uniform's pockets and waved at the oracle again, smiling brilliantly now that her problems seemed to be stepping down from their stages, little by little. Her mind was a pure clean slate of purity, no spikes or cracks of imperfection clouding her mind aside from the invisible floating loom of responsibility, but she would put it aside for now.

"Thanks, miss! I hope we will cross paths again!"

Uraraka saw the oracle wave at her from behind, and she pushed the curtain aside and stepped out, stopping once she was outside to look at the recipient and uncork it. Her feet were visible from inside the tent.

"I will take this now then, before going to sleep." her head turned to look at the fair at the center of the village, which was starting to swarm with people. She shook her head with a smile of contentment, but inwardly disappointed at having missed the fair when it was mildly tolerable. There were too much people around for her, so she just decided to call it a day, finally, and looked down at the recipient, which gleamed to a torch's fire.

Uraraka giddily brought the liquid to her lips, feeling the cold potion fall down her throat slowly, making its way to–

The second one drop made its way into her stomach, her whole body quivered and started stinging, shaking uncontrollably as an insufferable pain shot out from her head to all parts of her body, hurt and acid scratching her mind with fire claws, drawing blood from her brain and making it fall down her nose as Uraraka stumbled, and gripped one of the poles of the tent for support.

Her eyes filled with tears as her vision blurred and blood pooled on her arms. Within a blink and a pained, moaned cough, Uraraka's knees buckled and she fell to the ground as blood still flowed out of her and started staining her cheeks and hairs. Her eyes were open, seeing the building where she slept so in her reach yet, as she outstretched her hands and tried to crawl back to the beaten track, her strength faltered and she gave up the fight.

Her eyes closed, and her body stayed limp in front of the tent for two seconds before the oracle came out of her little place. She shook her head at the being laying on her doorstep and squatted down to her side.

She rummaged through her pockets to find one of the cards she had given her, and stared at it before looking at the people of the village, too far away to notice the crime. The oracle took the card and stood up again, giving Uraraka's motionless body a kick. It wouldn't take much time before somebody found the body.

The flailed the card a little bit and frowned at the unconscious girl. "Destruction girl," she spat right by her. " _disaster_ sorcerer."

A few minutes later, the tent was out of sight, as was the tarot card with the image of the Hierophant, burnt to ashes in front of Uraraka's right hand.

* * *

"Lie her on the bed, now!"

Todoroki and Mina quickly laid the little unconscious girl on the bed as the others ran to the threshold, where Midoriya tried to keep them at bay. When Jack was denied the entrance, she frowned at the leader and banged the door frame with her trembling fist. "What the hell, let us in! What's wrong with her?"

The knight sighed and trembled, stood and gulped to keep himself in check against the agitated crowd of people. Only a few members had been admitted into the room so Asui's work wouldn't be haltered, and it seemed like it would take them a little bit more than words to actually understand that. "We… don't know. Mina came across her body a few minutes ago and we haven't given Asui enough time to check her conditions. Please, go to bed and we will sort this out overnight."

"Midoriya, you can't be serious!" the leader looked at Iida patronizingly. As time moved forward and people started to jam-pack the corridors, the boy grew more and more irritated– and it was such a rare thing to see in the leader, a flash of vexation at the unfair situations.

Nobody knew what had happened, really. When Mina had seen a body laying on the now empty area, her first initiative had been to try and shake the body awake, thinking that it could be a drunk little girl taking a reckless nap– but then the hair, the smell of her skin and the color of her gloves, it all dawned on her, and she had let out a horrifyingly terrified shriek that had called Todoroki and Kirishima over, and they hastily carried the decaying corpse to the nearest room.

She could be dead for all they knew, and a chill ran down everybody's spines when the possibility came into mind. Her body was so light, her gasps for air so sharp and frantic, and her hands would tremble now and then, and the loll of her head into a tragic angle of uncertainty that had everyone at the edge of their seats. The critical situation had left everyone in a state of loss and worry that was only going on crescendo as Midoriya blocked the door.

"Only us few will remain as to not collapse the infirmary, but we are sure it's nothing severe." and yes, this was a big fat lie, as nobody could really go that far and confirm such madness so soon. He heard busy chatter around him, which prompted the boy to grasp the knob to close the door. "We will inform you all of the situation next morning. For now, rest assured we will do as much as possible to sort this out."

With that, everyone dropped their shoulders and Midoriya took that as his cue to close the door, and he lay on it with a bead of sweat running down his temple. Who had told him to go and confront the crowd had no idea of how nervous the boy grew with these situations.

"You look troubled, Midoriya." commented Todoroki, sitting on a chair right next to Uraraka. One of his hands rested on the mattress, close to Uraraka's in case she had a crisis. Asui sorted the potions with hurry behind him. "Do you think they will manage to rest with this situation in their hands?"

"The thing is, it's not something they can meddle with now." Kirishima helped Asui with the arrangements, searching for something the girl had requested as he spoke. "It depends on Asui to identify what the _fuck_ happened to our little lady."

Asui, for the first time in years, actually frowned at the redhead and took a little syringe from her bag. "Ribbit, don't put more responsibility on my shoulders than what I have already." she strode to her body and, after a few little touches on her forehead and checking her eyes from underneath her lashes, she took one of her hands. "She has a cut here."

Mina checked on the torn skin with curious eyes, as did Midoriya who was next to her. "What a weird place to have a cut. It's so…"

" _Precise_." intervened the leader with a growl. "Could somebody have used her own blood against her?"

Asui was already extracting some blood from Uraraka's forearm – all thanks to Todoroki who rolled up her sleeve – critically fast. Just as the crimson liquid started to flood the syringe, the girl frowned again. "No, the wound is not the issue here, nor is her own blood."

Asui hurried to her table on a side of the room, and arranged a little bent paper on a disk. The girl pushed on the syringe and, as the first droplet fell, she knew something was wrong. The liquid climbed fast through the filter paper, to the point in which there was no blood remaining on the disk, it had all gone through the paper. The sorcerer gave it a little shake, nibbled on the wet edges, and threw it to the disk again.

"Hot blood." announced Asui hastily, pressing her hands to Uraraka's pulse. It was slow, but throbbed against the girl's sensitive skin. "Her heart is having problems carrying it around her system, it's thickening."

Mina, having been around her lessons with Kirishima, was quick to identify the source of this problem. " _Poison_."

The mutant nodded. "And whoever who poisoned her wanted her dead on the spot." she coaxed the brunette's mouth open gripping her jaw, and passed a gloved finger along her tongue. There was something slimy glued to it, cold. Asui had a faint clue of what this could be, but she wouldn't be sure of what poison it was until she tested the substance.

The water sorcerer dipped her glove on a disk with water and saw the disk be infested with bubbles and oh, that very familiar purple hue. "A nitoria posion. Brash enough for a murderer."

"You are joking, right?" Mina stepped to the table and gasped when the disk started melting on the edges. "Please, don't tell me–!"

A loud moan of pain was heard across the room which had everyone getting up from their seats and chairs falling, as Uraraka's body arched off the bed and her chest started panting with hurtful intakes of toxic air, her head trashing on the pillow while her head darted from side to side. Her brows were drawn to a painful knitted grimace.

Bakugou, who stood looking out the window, craned his head to look at the ruckus, and frowned wordlessly.

Asui, however, seemed by far less alarmed than her crew. "Nitoria poisons have antidotes, and as this was made to be apparently healthy and hard to notice, its effects are dimmed by the quantity of additives in it." nobody understood a word of what she said excepting antidote and healthy, and their faces were mirrors of this fact. "I can cure her, no worries. In the meantime, restrain her from making too harsh movements. Convulsions are fairly normal at this stage of the intoxication."

As easy as that, everyone but Bakugou cooperated on the operation, gripping her arms and legs to the bed no matter how much she trashed or crumbled under their steel grasp. The pharmacist was rushed by the alarmingly loud gasps of Uraraka, how her peers were struggling to hold her tight no matter how hard they bit on their lips, or how they muttered words of encouragement under Uraraka's piercing little screams of pain– all under her unconscious, yet seemingly only slumber state.

"She's regaining consciousness, Asui!" warned Mina, her irises starting to move too much in their sockets as something started racketing in that jumping mind of hers. "We need to find an antidote before she wakes up! The nitoria–"

"Yes, yes, I know!" exclaimed the other stressfully. If Uraraka reached consciousness before the poison was diluted in her bloodstream, it would devastate her mind beyond humankind's imagination– additives as boosters for side effects, decreasing the degree of lethality yet reaching and branching through the sorcerer's darkest corners of her mind. "I just need a second!"

Asui was sweating bullets by now, her hands trembling in the middle of the night to find a cure for this madness. Her fingers deftly worked through samples, substance that could render the poison useless in minimum time. She stroked fruits, mashed leaves with the help of Kirishima's hardened fists. The convulsions on the dying body were fading away little by little, making the straining easier while Bakugou only listened and fisted his hands, stroking the fabric of his pants to bite in swears of stress.

Once the yellowish substance on Asui's flask stopped bubbling, the girl let out a little squeal of hurry and charged the syringe with the cure. "Got it, ribbit!" she wasted no second on carrying her feet as fast as possible to the bed, swatting hands away to roll the sorcerer's sleeves up and plump in the needle.

As the liquid entered Uraraka's bloodstream, the convulsions died to only minor shudders and eventual twitches, which also disappeared within seconds and only left a sleeping, tired girl at its wake. Her hands limped, fingers heaving down, and her breath grew sturdy and regular under everyone's pendant eyes. These very relieved members fell on the nearest source of support they could find.

Kirishima decided to limp on the floor and start chuckling to himself in success, and then laughed under his breath as heat flared on his face, heated from the rush of danger. He watched Asui crawl on the edge of Uraraka's bed, right next to a sitting Todoroki. "You are a pure legend, Asui!"

As the herbalist tried her best to push her pulsations to a normal beat, breath heaving in and out of her lungs. The dual knight gave her shoulder a proud shake, the feeling evident on his smile as the herbalist nodded back, smiling in sheer happiness and relief. "Well done, Asui."

"My god! That was a nerve-wrecking operation." the pink archer eyed Uraraka, exhausted, and hoisted her whole weight on Midoriya's back. "Will she be alright now?"

Still breathing heavily, trying to ride off the hurry and letting the strings of time go back to their place, she placed a hand on Uraraka's moist forehead. "She may get a mild fever as her body tries to digest the poison, but other than that, she will survive."

Everyone in the room let out a general breath of final allevation, giddy smiles directed at the tired doctor who only tried to recover from the rush. As a tranquil pace of united heartbeats and collective silence floated on the thinning air of midnight, a little question remained in between them.

"I'd suggest somebody keeps guard on our sick lady here." Kirishima placed a hand on the girl's forehead, and brushed off the sweat on his pants. "She's soaked in sweat, and will probably need some aid if she wakes up."

Midoriya's first option to offer was Asui– of course, it was always her. The herbalist had always been a dependable person when days grew grim, when situations like these were critic and someone was needed to take the wheel other than the very able leaders, who were at a loss of what to do. This was a new member they were talking about– an _important_ one at that. Having her fall under a illness and be left unattended would probably make this situation drag for longer than necessary. And that, right now, was a hazard where one could see it.

"I am not going to offer Asui for the job, and I hope no one dares to– because she is further than exhausted." which was a point everyone agreed on. She had had to look after Kaminari, Uraraka and Bakugou in the same day, one of them actually twice, and rest off the exhaustion from the fight against Midnight. "And I know all of us are exhausted, but I–"

"I will take care of it."

The small voice came from the window, where a very tense Bakugou stood and, when he felt all eyes on his ample back, he turned with a grimace on his jaw, teeth clenched.

" _What the fuck're_ you all gawking at?"

"You wanna…" his hands pointed at Uraraka, to which the fierce leader nodded softly, getting the point in the angriest version of a bashful pout. "take care of _her_?"

Asui and Midoriya blinked at the blonde, who was looking at a side of the room with his usual wall of unaffected emotions, controlled feelings and cautioned actions, all his blinks and heartbeats measured to a minimum so

they wouldn't betray his true thoughts. He then glared at everyone in the room, including the panting corpse on the bed– actually, he practically _glowered_ at her, because he always found himself either depending from her porcelain hands or saving her ass, and he _despised_ that cycle.

He was more than bothered with this situation of owing something to her when he actually felt like he didn't, so he needed to get it over with.

He felt Asui's softened eyes on him, and then his eyes trailed to the other leader. "I owe this to her."

"What do you–"

"She has been looking after me after the fight with that fucking necromancer, and I never had to tell her even twice to care the slightest bit about me. If anything, I gave her reasons to hate my guts."

Bakugou strode to the center of the room and kicked a stool into place, slamming his ass on the wooden seat right before Uraraka. Kirishima smiled at his best friend with a gentle spark of pride in his eyes, seeing the brash boy he knew start tearing the walls of his grudges down little by little, and trying to show that he _could_ be kind when the situation forced him to. And even when it wasn't really that way.

"She's strong for putting up with me and saving my life, more than once." commented the blonde, staring at the girl's closed lids absent-mindedly. "And this is my way of thanking her."

Asui propped her head up to gape at the once stubborn, pain in the ass leader and only saw a close to caring leader, and it caused her to smile a little at him in the darkness of the room.

* * *

"Little Nameless, this is something you must do for us." assured a pink man by her. He didn't squat – _anymore_ , noted the little girl, as she had grown and she didn't need those petty things anymore. They stood on the back of a room where a light breeze flew, sometimes toying with her cut strands. Light streamed down on her, sounds of people on their thrones waiting for her.

Chains sounded as well from within the tumult, which snapped her back into reality. "But papa, I don't know that man!"

"Which is a miracle itself, considering what that man has done to our village with his knives and words."

Shadows, shadows, creeping around the edges of her starlit eyes, galaxies dying on her heartstrung broken irises. Out of the edge of her mind, she was screaming to set these things back into rightness, but all she could do in such virginal state of ignorance was scream at the void like a fool, and feel something cracking at her fingertips. The whole world was swirling around her like a thunderwave, all spinning as voices mixed and chains clashed.

She was… so, _so_ helpless. "Dad, why would you want _me_ of all people to execute this order?"

The pink man did squat this time– probably to make her feel higher in the power scale, so she would feel mighty and confident enough to actually carry out this scarring task. "You are the only one who can do this, Nameless." and she had heard this one time and another, plenty of times already. It was such a tiring charade. "You _know_ this."

"I…" she didn't. " _do_."

Because this power she had, it was all but normal. She herself was abnormal, kept as a treasure in her civilization but looked at as a monster from time to time, when the sun peaked in a corner of the sacred minds. Some would scream when her hands dig too deep into nature's butter– others, they would let her be.

This time, they would not let her be, but encourage her to release the monster from the cage. "Then, go out there and face the court. You can do it, hon."

The girl was given a little push, then taken steadily to the big room that was the court. The walls were crowded with staged seats, rampaging people pointing at the wonder girl as a man on the center of the room, staying on an ivory stage and tied with chains to a pole– he was screaming at a muffler on his mouth, then spitting on her from his silenced hell.

Her father stood near to her as the girl bunched the fabric on her shirt, nervousness crawling around her like the nasty monster she was. Words spiraled around her, something about her carrying out the right choice. Odd dots of pale colors– human colors, they splashed the room in bright diversity, yet she feared what this would do to the fragile bond between the races.

Her father tapped her shoulder, reality blurring around her as she tried to keep her thoughts at bay. This was like a band-aid, she knew, it was only a matter of tugging it off with enough force so it would hurt quick and short. Her hands were trembling when she rose her stretched fingers to the stranger, who screamed at her in pure agony.

"An…" Nameless panted, choked in disgust at what she was going to do, and withdrew her hand from the torture procedure. But, as sense of pride and duty flooded over her, she was able to call out the spell. Echo boomed from behind her, knocking some hats off their owners as she whispered the dreaded word. " _Anihilation_."

Nameless twisted her hand with a pained grimace as the man twisted to her desire, his blood accordingly boiling and piercing his burning flesh as the humans on the room screeched at the display, hugging their families for dear life and hurrying out of the room along with some other people from her species, the smell of rotten skin and broken bones overwhelming her to a extent that the brunette gave into her knees, and fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Good girl, Nameless…" he gripped her shoulder a bit stronger, her father, and ruffled her hair. She coughed a smile, nodding emotionlessly. "Good job."

A blond, red-eyed boy watched from afar, eyes wide in terror as he stared at the broken girl with a shudder.

* * *

"Bakugou, _Kacchan_."

The blonde leader snapped his head up with the gentle sound of Midoriya's calling. He groaned in frustration as his head lolled back, and he let himself look a little bit vulnerable by scrubbing his eyes awake. He still played it off as if he hadn't been dozing off. "What the hell, you scared the shit outta me."

Midoriya, with an arm tucked around a big volume and a bashful smile on full display, rubbed his shoulder for some comfort and sat on the girl's bed. "She's still sleeping, huh?"

The green-haired knight removed an stray lock of hair off her reddened cheeks, his touch barely stronger than a caress. A small grow reverberated from deep within his chest. "Little witch here has been trashing around a little bit. She's calmed down for now."

"Well, if she's getting better, that's all that counts." the boy realized the cloth around Uraraka's forehead had been dampened, and Midoriya knew for a fact that nobody had come to switch guards yet that night. He smiled knowingly. "It's good to see she's in good hands."

The knight gingerly took the cloth to cool if off, all while Bakugou stared at the girl's closed eyes with a piercing glare of anger and frustration. "Better have her getting better soon so we can part, rather than me biting my own tail and being a dick to her. I am more responsible than that, bastard."

Despite the insult, Midoriya chuckled from Asui's medical table. The sloshing of the water was all that could be heard in the building, so late in the night. "Yeah, I know." he turned his head a bit to watch Bakugou's hunched position, and if he had to bet, he'd say he hadn't gotten up from that chair ever since the last change. "Who was the last person who came to watch Uraraka?"

"Alien girl." spat Bakugou, shifting on the chair to adopt a confident position: crossed arms, crossed legs, and his glare switching to the other leader. "And you ain't gonna take the turn yet."

"Shouldn't you get up for a while and, I don't know, sleep? If you don't rest, you'll miss the festivities tomorrow." the hunter mentally swatted him away quickly, chuckling in denial while his bones ached for mercy. He was biting the insides of his cheeks for some comfort– the chair was uncomfortable, the situation worse and his body totally messed up. He hadn't felt this mentally exhausted for a while. "Why take this business so far, Kacchan?"

"Don't you fucking dare call me that again, loser." moonlight filtered through the half closed curtains, bathing Bakugou in this light that was so enticingly perfect to fall asleep on the arms of the sick girl. He couldn't lie: at the stage he was in, he could have fallen asleep on the mattress where she laid and not even think about later regrets. "I am her leader. And I owe this to her personally. I don't really think none of you will take this serious other than me."

"C'mon, that's a blatant lie."

Bakugou's eyes burnt even brighter than before, his fangs gleaming. He would have gotten up if his legs were responsive enough– but they weren't, and it was driving him up the fucking wall. This shitty girl was always troubling his daily life and he didn't want to feel compromised with her, above all not in this way. He didn't owe her anything, he had no reason to be there other than sheer responsibility.

"Don't bark at me, it's true." Midoriya sighed, and turned to the leader to walk to them afterwards, his hands leaving the cloth on her forehead slowly. He stroked the blue fabric onto her forehead, eliciting a little groan from her. "You have never taken matters this far when it comes to any regular member, other than Kirishima."

"She ain't a regular member. Not in any way."

"Not like you are trying to see her in any other way, Bakugou."

This made the leader make an effort to stand up and go pound the living lights out of that nerd, but his knees buckled and he had to sit down again under Midoriya's concerned gaze.

"I know what you are insinuating, and what everybody's probably thinking, but I don't give a fuck about her." he forced his eyes on her, traced the curve of her little nose, and sighed grumpily. "Seriously, I _don't_. But she has gone out of her way several times to actually care about me when I didn't ask. I have said this before: I am thanking her for that."

"But you still feel like you shouldn't, right?" Bakugou glared at his peer from under his disarrayed spikes, night shadows crossing behind his eyes. It was silent warning. "Your voice is so strained, your back is probably aching. You don't want to go through this, yet you are."

The blonde allowed himself a sigh of tiredness, and blinked at him in unusual tranquility. Being so drained was doing unmerciful things on his mood, and it seems like Midoriya would take advantage of that until he snapped back into his aggressive old self. "I loathe feeling in debt for this bitch, because I shouldn't. No one gave her the right to care about me, or put herself in danger. Now, I have to thank her, as a leader, and get her ass out of this trouble."

"Is it really that? Just plain justice and the sake of being a leader?"

"Why am I talking about this with _you_ of all people?"

"Because she has been like this for a whole day– more like two considering we are here past midnight." his eyes found kindness in Uraraka's relaxed figure, finally idle and breathing without coughs or heavy sweat. "You have tried to kill her, you have dismissed her– but you are _here_ , Kac– Bakugou, watching after her. What changed from being a dick to her to now actively want to see her healthy?"

"For starters, my opinion about her remains unchanged at the root." he was tired, he was letting Midoriya tug at the thread that got his thoughts stuck in a vicious cycle of autodestruction and doubt– but for a reason, he didn't feel bad about it. Not a single bit. "I still think she is a threat, but it's true she hasn't moved against our currents yet, other than be stupid and overwork herself. Other than that, she can work in our favor, and even _I_ can see that now."

"So, you care about–"

" _No_." snapped the blonde, red suns spiraling and changing under the pressure of this crashing tide. "I don't think I can actively care about someone to this personal level. She benefits our guild, her being in good shape is good for the showdown against RampAge, and I owe to her. That's all there is to it."

"I still think you owe her much more than this, and that's only for putting up with your remarks and stupidity when you feel like bullying her." Midoriya would have been backed to a wall after such insult, but Bakugou was being silent, observing the girl with a clashing mixture of hatred and frustration. He was only listening to his companion unfocusedly, as he let all his petty feelings slowly sink in. "She has done nothing else but put up with your foul mood and actually fight you back. Really, she must be tired from resisting the urge to slap you on the face."

"I don't owe her any fucking thing in that regard." snapped Bakugou, narrowing his eyes at the boy. "All she does is put me into trouble and try to be nice to me– I never asked for all that. She is attempting to–"

Midoriya bit on his knuckles as he stifled in a good earful on respect and kindness, something the leader could lack very often. "Stop seeing her kindness as a freaking attack, Kacchan. She just wants to be in this guild and be on good terms with you."

"Stop it, it ain't worth it to scream at me over this. Asui already has, in her way, and I am working on it. I am here, withstanding this hell so I don't owe to her. I don't owe her anything– I should never owe anything to a damn pest like her." argued Bakugou, encasing himself in this bubble of hard ideals and a truth he couldn't come to terms with, but it was there, in his hands. "I don't wanna feel lied to anymore, I am working to fix this for the guild's welfare."

The anger in Midoriya's eyes faded to a pale hue of surprise. "So, you want to try to trust her?"

Bakugou waited for a bit, rethinking his decisions with sharp eyes. Still, he had gone over it so many times already that the charade was getting tiring, and it was more worth it to actually try to be nice to her than find a reason to hate her after all she has done. She made his life so hard, sometimes.

He clutched the fabric of his shirt, right above his heart, where it ached worst. "I want to just get rid of this disgusting feeling of having to thank her for something I didn't ask for. I wanna stop feeling this stupid, I shouldn't even be here. She is a goddamn silly bitch who knows nothing else but trouble."

The other boy blinked several times, staring at Bakugou's tired shoulders and how his eyes would flicker ever so often at the girl in decreasing loathe, and more directed to worry for her wellbeing as a guild member he had acknowledged, someone he was starting to value as worth keeping. His hands could crawl their way out of his bruised heart, shadows casted on his lonely soul, but the rampage of thought and tranquility this girl had inflicted on him could be denied, but no longer ignored.

Midoriya could now understand why Uraraka shone so much. She was giving everyone an opportunity in the same one everyone was doing with her– and she never had a reason, either. She was embracing everyone's threats, everyone's glares, everyone's doubts, and walking her way out of them with a loud parade. For that, he deserved the kind leader's admiration, so a little smile was directed at her.

"I will taking my leave then, Kacchan. However," he left the volume from before on her nightstand, gave it a pat of reassurance as he knew Uraraka would love seeing possibilities and barriers grow, and retreated to the door. His eyes shifted to the leaning leader, whose eyes were droopy and weaker than usual, but still held that passionate gaze into the devil's eyes. It was so charming to see those fires dim for once, prompting these words. "you should know that she isn't causing any trouble to you. _She_ is the one willingly putting herself on danger's way, receiving the throws, and getting into problems. That… shouldn't affect you this much, Kacchan."

And with that, Midoriya chuckled at Bakugou's dumbstruck expression of ire and tiny realization, closing the door behind him while the other crashed his head on the mattress, right beside Uraraka's twitching hand– because he was right, in a way, and it only dawned on him that his little slip may have made him look more sick and foolish than he already was.

He groaned into the blankets. " _Fuuuuck_."

But he didn't care. Not even a pinch.

* * *

"Nameless, there's somebody I want you to meet!"

The brunette girl turned from the well, more like kicked a bit so she wouldn't fall inside and _then_ turned at Kirishima's voice calling after her. His step was quick, his red falling spikes bouncing in his stride while a blur of blonde hairs and pale skin also neared her. It took her a little bit to recognize that face– _that_ face, sharp at the edges and bland in anger at the center, drawn in red and all suddenly made sense.

"You…" the blonde boy stopped and gulped after her voice chirped in, but frowned regardless. "You are the golden boy from the river! What are you doing here?"

Kirishima slapped a hand on his shoulder and grinned again, showing her his shining pearly whites before the other boy slapped the hand away as soon as it touched him. "He jumped across the river and asked me to take him to _the girl with magic hands_!" the fact that he knew such fact about her had her gulping this time around. "So here we are!"

The girl with muddy eyes took a step back, taking her bucket of water to her chest. Once upon a time, she would have needed help to reach the well's edge, but it had been so long since then. Her reflection shone on the water. "How… how do you know about my abilities?"

"My people gave me a description of someone they are looking for, from their nation, who was lost a long time ago. She was a… magician, as well." explained the blonde boy, fixated on how her hands trembled around the bucket. "So I can recognize a magician when I see one. This.. town can do that, right? Magic, I mean."

The redhead nodded hastily, and put his fists on his hips with pride. "Our race has vast knowledge about sorcery, right, Nameless?" she nodded curtly, eyeing her hands shortly. "That's what differentiates us from you humans, we can do lots of stuff!"

While Kirishima boasted about the abilities of their race – a race they bitterly didn't seem to belong to, at least physically speaking – the blonde newcomer took a step forward until he made the girl flinch, and outstretched a hand towards her without actually looking into her blown wide eyes.

"I saw you at the court a few days ago… and I knew I had seen your stupid face, a few months ago." that made her stifle in a gasp of horror, as she had never wanted to be seen as such monster– but seeing how he was fighting back an excited grin, corners twitching, he was more than fine with her powers. "What's your name?"

The girl left the bucket of water on the ground, and curled her fingers around her jersey for internal decision. The boy was… giving her his hand? Did he want her to take it or something? She was around twelve years old now, but she hadn't been educated into these things. However, she remembered that her pink dad had done that stupid gesture sometimes, and she decided to give it a little shake.

"I don't have a name. And if I do, I don't remember it. I was born without it apparently, and never given one." despite the inner tragedy and later irony of the situation, she smiled at him sweetly, eyes closed in bliss for making a new friend. "I go by Nameless. And he is Kirishima. My sister, Mina, is not around now, but she should make an appearance now. She has the regular looks for our species."

The golden boy glanced around and was proven right about that. Everyone had pink skin, lighter hair, spotless black eyes with a golden ring, and high-pitched voices. Some of them had big claws on their hands, others didn't. Looking at Nameless and Kirishima, it really looked like they were making leaps and twirls about developing camouflage strategies, as they could be mistaken by someone from his species without a doubt.

If he hadn't seen her come from _across_ the river, he would have thought she was a human, too.

"The name's Katsuki." replied the boy, grumpy as she gave his hand a shake. He reciprocated the gesture. "Please don't blow me up."

It took her a while, but she actually understood the little joke and giggled, her little fit then erupting into gross loud laughter. It had been a while since she did that.

It would as well be the last time, rain falling harder that day as blood bathed her knees, a figure looming above her and–

* * *

Uraraka's back bounced off the bed with the start of a heart attack jumping from behind at her, claws sprouting from her brain and giving it another hard, lovingly scratch of welling tears that never fell, tension that never broke and images that never made sense, feelings and people that shouldn't be there and, however, she felt heartless and boneless whenever she woke up.

The aftermath of these dreams, nightmares and all kinds of havoc left her scarred a little bit more violent the more time that passed– her breaths would grow more staggering, her hands would clutch her heart stronger and her eyes would dart more dizzily around the room. While the effects and emotions from the experience would wear off fast, faces and ideas sure didn't.

The fact that she couldn't see the face of that little girl monster clearly was so confusing as well for her, because she was probably the most important piece of the story. An innocent girl with a pure soul, yet terrifying sorcery used for ill intentions. Was this supposed to be a metaphor about her?

Also… why had, of all people, _he_ been there with–

She heard heavy breathing near her, and when she was able to focus her sight on her surroundings, a mane of pale hair came into view, sleeping right by her stretched legs. His muscles, tense and tight, hair unkempt and light snoring vibrating in his ribcage. Her eyes almost fell out of their sockets when she realized who this was, thinking about pinching herself to wake up from this vision.

What was Bakugou… doing there? He was sitting on a chair, yet his whole body was leaning on the bed as his head rested nestled on his strong arms, probably already given up on her waking up. How long had he been there? And again, why was he, of all people, there with her? The first thing she thought was that he was probably taking advantage of his sleeping problems to take the night shift and watch her, but why would he accept taking it in the first place?

Her hand hesitated, hovered above his head until they took the monumental step of touching his hair– touching _him_ , in a sense, and threaded his messy locks into place with a placid smile of tranquility. Her other hand wiped some sweat off her forehead as the moon gloriously washed over the dark room. While her fingers played with his hair and he slept calmly near her, brown eyes glanced out the window shortly.

There was ruckus outside – she thought, eyes aimlessly trying to see further from the bed – and she wanted to see more of it.

As to not wake her sleeping vigilant, Uraraka slowly shifted on the bed and placed her feet on the cold floor. Her toes relished at the feeling of the flashy temperature, because her body was overwhelmingly hot and she couldn't wait to get a change of clothes. She didn't even dare sniffing herself, she would sure be raking sweat.

As the sorcerer walked around the bed and brushed past Bakugou, she giggled a little to herself, but then concerned her eyes on the slumbering boy. Again, what business did he have with her? Why would he even bother come to check on her? It was sad to know somebody didn't entertain your presence even while being on civil terms, and it irked her to think this way. Still, she had done enough already to make nice with him, the ball was on his court now.

Uraraka's body was engulfed by the moonlight. Bells of consciousness rung the numbness to go away, and she was suddenly blinking openly to the moonlight that loomed over the big window of her room. The night stars were shy and sneaky compared to this big cheese, twinkling timidly as part-time companions of the white angel. A sweet feeling of a breeze escalating up her spine made her skin tingle in delight as some music blared from outside, fires going off as shows and fights occurred as part of the nighttime fair.

And Bakugou missed it… to watch after her? Her head craned a little to eye his sleeping form, frown knit in confusion. He disliked her – concluded Uraraka, looking at the moon and fair once again – he must have been pressured to stay.

It was then when Uraraka remembered what had gone down with the oracle, when she spotted the vacant space at the corner of the fair– she wanted to slap herself for being so naïve, illusional, for letting a stranger so shady like that woman trick her. She had been as foolish as to even tell her about her secrets, those hideous dreams and nightmares, when Todoroki had clearly advised her to be careful.

She cradled her face on her hands and rubbed, then rubbed some more. The feeling of weight on her pockets reminded her of the cards and the misty bottle, for which she rummaged. Her fingers came in contact with one of the cards, yet as much as she fiddled around, the other card was long lost. As she took the card of _the Hanged Man_ out, to the moonlight's shade, something strung wrong in her heart.

"Why this one… where is the other one?" she palmed her other pocket, and only felt the shape of the bottle, yet no other card was found. The hand holding the card trembled. "What in the world…"

"What are you doing up?"

Her hand hurried in a messy blur to keep the card inside her pockets, spinning to see Bakugou groggily making his way to her. Uraraka made quick work to hold the shield up and cross her arms, starting her usual defensive pose of unaffection towards the leader. Still, there was no hostility in her eyes, or in his for that matter. "I woke up and heard the music from the festival."

"Then go to bed again, you still need the fucking rest." grunted the leader, scrubbing his eyes again to wake up. "We gotta part soon and you aren't helping."

But the strained edge in his voice and the dryness of his throat gave one too many things away. "You aren't in the best of shapes either, _master_." mocked she with an arched eyebrow. At this, he growled with a sideways glare. Uraraka didn't know why he got so angry at her for releasing the feelings he stirred on her– feelings of protection, shielding, holding her ground against this beast. "You can take the bed, I am not going to–"

Her legs unexpectedly gave up under her, but she swiftly grabbed for the frame of the window to hold her. Bakugou's hands had flinched for this, and he had no fucking idea why when he had known she could take care of herself. Being tired had never been so infuriatingly difficult before. "You _are_ going to sleep. If you don't fucking take care of yourself there is no use in taking you with us."

"I am another warrior from this guild, Bakugou." attacked Uraraka with a frown of her own, facing him directly. "Why am I being scolded over doing an effort–"

"This ain't a damn effort, it's no more than a strain in your development." he crossed his arms, his eyes glimmering beneath the moon's cradle. His jaw was clenched, chin up, and he suddenly looked like he was going to say something, then kept it in for a little more. He shook his head. "You are constantly doing things that aren't needed, and we– _I_ don't want none of it."

The blonde had made it sound personal in a second and it worried her– so much that she actually asked.

"Is there… anything I may have done to upset you, Bakugou?"

A low growl scraped his throat and constricted his vocal strings painfully, his fists tight as he spoke ever so clearly and demanding, scary and resolute. "I don't want anything from you, got it? I don't need your protection, your business with being kind and the like– I don't need it."

The girl flinched under his sudden glower, but recovered from the blow hell fast. "What's wrong with me taking care of you or actually looking after your protection?"

Uraraka asked it so patiently and kindly that his heart plummeted and left a soaring trace of hurt pride behind– and something dangerous, atrocity and violence, it all came in full force to his eyes as he turned to look at her, stepping close to her in a second. She shot up a little as well, their glares sparking bolts and daggers to each other while Bakugou jabbed her shoulder accusingly and she slapped his hands away from her.

She should have known that her kindness would backfire, and stepped back from it when she still had time, back at the campfire. But she had given in to her generalized personality and now _this_ happened.

"I don't wanna owe anything to you, got it? I don't give a fuck about you, I don't need you in my life, your magic or your goddamn glitter that chases me everywhere I go." barked he, not observing how her posture suddenly softened and her eyes widened the tiniest way. Since only a few inches separated them, he really should have. "I don't owe you anything– I have watched over your sick ass for more than enough, I have changed your cloth and haven't complained! This is my way of saying thank you from before and–"

"You sure can mumble and mumble like Midoriya when you are riddled, Bakugou." commented she with this shocked face he detested on her because she knew better– she always knew better and he was suddenly feeling lied to again when he didn't want it.

"That's not the damn point!" yelled he. His hands mindlessly searched for his sword on his waist. "Just stop being like this. Stop giving me unwanted attention, stop trying to protect me, I don't need it." Bakugou took a deep breath to calm himself down, too quick to anger when he was _this_ tired, and sighed with exasperation. "I don't _want_ it."

When she didn't strike him with a quick comeback the very same moment he shut up and stopped spluttering so much bullshit, he dared to look at her. Those bubbling eyes of hers somehow remained unchanged, looking at him as if he hadn't said anything, her skin still sweaty and her smell still gross– he _loathed_ that about her. No matter how much shit he tried to throw at her to keep her away, she was resilient and either fought back or ignored the attack.

He needed her to stay away. He didn't need her in his life, he didn't need a terrorist in his life to taunt his sanity. Uraraka was stupid, careless, naïve, sarcastic and too sassy to his liking. And yet, she was there. And he didn't want it.

After a little silence, she spoke up again. "Such a shame, Bakugou, that you feel this way." he thought she would finally give in and leave him alone. "I sadly won't let up, though."

But she _didn't_. When he focused on her again, her irises were shining under the moon's gleam and her skin was clean, yet damp and ferverish. She herself was a damn illness he would never recover from, a maniac with the hands of a fairy that was supposed to be proving his inner fears rights and destroying the world– not there, alone with him and sticking to his thorny side.

The brunette stung his pride with a little smile of hers, that shaky one that held no emotion other than mockery for him. "Why can't you understand? I know you don't really give a damn about me– and not gonna lie, it sucks that the feeling is unilateral." hell yes, she at least got that right. "Still, you are another of my peers, and I willwatch after your protection. No matter how much you push me away…"

Her head turned to his, eyes closed in tranquility and spoke as this was a universal statement. He was speechless for the first time in his life, words stuck as moonlight bathed her. "… I will care about you, dumbass. Even if you want me not to. You gave me a place to belong, and for that, I will always be kind to you all. Even if you don't deserve my kindness, I still owe it to you."

The echo of her words oozed into his bloodstream– but it didn't make his skin boil, his heart hammer with anger or anxiety for this situation. Instead, his whole body stood there, calmly, as her words sunk in deeper and deeper than a mermaid lost in the labyrinth that the sea was, swimming into the darker abyss that was his heart as his shouts, curses and violence were reduced to shock and utter silence. His eyebrows were knit in confusion, yet a line of heartbreaking realization and surprise was there– and it made Uraraka smile a bit higher.

"Why do you do… _this_?" his words literally fell off, low and whispered in almost fear for what stupidity she would come up with.

"Care doesn't have an actual reason, it's just a feeling." answered Uraraka, eyes closed in peaceful contemplation. "You have protected me as well from Shinsou, defended me against the village. And even without all that, with given time, I would have grown to care about you a little, as I do now."

"But I _don't_ , and I am sick of feeling like I owe the world to you when I didn't–"

"Ask for it?" finished she for him, and he nodded with something alike to desperation crossing his irises, tranquil like a shooting star but fading away fast, like a broken light. "Nobody asks to be cared for, you just receive it. I can take care of myself, so I don't mind if _you_ , of all people, don't give a crap. It's not like I expected you to."

She was saying it as if it was fine, but a part of him just knew it wasn't fine. All she had done all along was protect his guild his peers, _him_ from danger no matter how much it hurt her to do so. Then why had she been so preoccupied about him when he couldn't do that for her, when all he had done had been ridiculous compared to her feats? Why, in the end, was he the one being affected by her feelings and not her by his lack of them?

It was wrong. _She_ was wrong. She couldn't care, it had to be a good joke or a big performance lie. He shouldn't have to feel this– that throb of having done enough, yet feeling like there was much more to do. He didn't like it, he hated it! Bakugou wanted to throw his heart out of the window or give it to her so she could just devour it and give it back ugly, but fixed.

She… was a sorcerer. It was fucking wrong for him to feel even debited towards her.

He… he couldn't say it anymore. He couldn't hate her after all she had done for him. And that's why he hated her despite not really doing so– she had given him a reason not to hate her. She was giving him reasons not to hold back anymore… to embrace _her_. Uraraka had barged in, cared for him when no one asked, and pushed all his hatred back to pin him down and, suddenly, he wasn't himself anymore.

He wasn't full of hatred for her anymore. In its stead, there was this confusing set of annoying feelings, all contradictory and messy that he didn't even want to touch, screaming his name in a tangled sea of names and tags he didn't… he just _couldn't_ touch.

Bakugou stared at her a little moment. _So, he didn't_.

That way, he didn't care now.

Not that much.

* * *

"Guys, did you hear that?"

Jack had ran to a side of the road, whip in her hand as a menacing thunderstorm rumbled from high above, near a hill and by the river they were passing by. Uraraka stopped in her tracks to listen closely, but nothing could be heard aside from faraway thunder rolling at the end of the canyon. The guild was currently walking through a very narrow path encored on the rocky cliff, the river flowing deep below them in direction to the forests ahead, then the capital.

Mina stared a bit ahead as well, her eyes finding nothing else but the dark rocks of the cliffs in the night and the waters running crystal black under the moon's blurry embrace, covered by the thick clouds of incoming storm. She shook her head and held her torch a bit higher. "I can't see shit in the darkness, above all with the wind from up here. What did it sound like?"

Kaminari, who was at the head of the crew at the moment, stopped them all as he held his arm and sword. Even Bakugou stopped his match when he saw how serious the blonde had turned. "No, I heard that too. It came from a bit under us."

Everyone peeked from the edge of the thin way, some squatting to not lose balance and topple over. Yaoyorozu shook her head, struggling to see anything else but some dry plants and bubbling water. "There are a few platforms of discontinued paths and the river. I can see some little hills as the canyon ends, but nothing suspicious."

Bakugou lowered Kaminari's arm, but knew better than to let his guard down. He let his axe out of his back and walked forward clutching it tightly. "Then, let's going. A storm is coming and rain in the darkness ain't pretty. Above all in the canyon."

Everyone nodded in unison and took a few steps forward to hear the very same noise Jack had heard– except this time, it rung much clearer and louder than before, the screech reaching Uraraka's ears so terrifyingly well, as if the monster was right–

A crash and a blow were heard and the walls that held the path clear started to crack, tremble, and a horrifying scream of agitation echoed across the whole canyon while a dark green monster with scales and claws started to surface from the depths of the river and crawled up the walls to the path, his eyes locking with Uraraka's scared ones and letting out another piercing yell of territorial menace, his metal hands making the ground beneath the guild shake and start crumbling.

A panicked, petrified shaky intake of breath broke the confidence for a tranquil path, and Uraraka was suddenly frightened to death for this monster she couldn't clearly see in the middle of the darkness– but the menace was there, its tail illuminated by the dim moonlight and she could feel him climbing closer, faster, his body making the canyon give in to its weight.

One of Asui's feet gave in to the cracks, and she would have fallen down if Todoroki hadn't caught her. "The path widens into an esplanade a few meters ahead where the canyon curves! We must hurry and take it down there, we can't fight like this!"

Unable to find a better plan, the guild struggled to break from the shock and fear and ran forward through the path as it started giving up behind them and falling into the river. The river creature let out another screech and dived into the waters again, chasing them down while hitting the walls a little while beneath the canyon.

Once they reached the esplanade, Uraraka was ordered by Yaoyorozu to ensure a path out of it before the whole canyon gave up. The sorcerer nodded and pounded a crack of the canyon with her staff, spikes of rocks and solid minerals surfacing through the cracks on the path ahead and holding them in place. Still, the solution wasn't permanent. "The path is a little fixer-upper, but this won't last for long if whatever that is shakes it!"

Bakugou flung his war axe on his shoulder and immediately hissed after. His body hadn't rested enough for a battle of this caliber, not after looking after Uraraka and having to part afterwards. He was tired, aching– but his mind was ready for any challenge like this, for he smirked. "Let's take this little thing do–"

The beast surfaced again from the side of the big esplanade, making Mina and Midoriya leap backwards as the river monster blocked the way out of the portion of land, and swatted Uraraka's work off to the river. As it crawled nearer to them, it let out another high pitched wail of anger as it frowned on them, its scales brightening after a flash of thunder and revealing a dragon with green scales, colossal tail and sharp claws, his teeth wet with blood and sweet water.

"It's a legendary beast from the river!" screamed Midoriya into the night, to his comrades, as wind started howling them off the esplanade. "We can't possibly kill it, all we must do is paralyze him before he moves too much!"

Even before the leader had finished his orders, Kaminari was completely involved in lightning and sparks as an uncanny smirk of pride wicked his skin. "Ah, then that's sparky's field of battle!"

He charged a handful of bolts into his palms, liting up the land around them before smashing the currents and sending it through the minerals of the canyon, running deep into the canyon through the cracks and zipping the monster that lay before them– but the monster never stopped shifting nearer to them. Uraraka took a hesitant step near to the edge of the cliff, and only stopped when the waters were heard too clearly.

"What the fuck is this thing!?" exclaimed Kaminari before charging his sword and adopting a fighting pose, breath heavy from the stamina consumption. "That thing is huge! How are we going to immobilize him with such fat weight?"

Uraraka would have done something about it if it hadn't been for thunder clapping right beside her, the beast smashing his claw closer to her people and creating a crack across the esplanade. She let out a whimper of fright, yet stayed focused on the beast before them. She could have summoned a meteorite, called in a tsunami to wash the thing away, make the ground beneath him crack and fall, or warp him in a tornado of havoc and destruction.

Yet, she held herself in and charged up. The ground they shared was fragile, at the verge of destruction if the monster took another step as she could hear rocks fall to the river behind her, the surface giving in if the beast made it shake too much. And as everyone was being extra careful, she knew she wasn't the only one aware of this limitation.

Todoroki wrapped his left side in flames and swung his arm straight at the beast from near Uraraka, flames shooting up and striking right on the beast's eyes. While the monster shook at the violent blinding, Bakugou was able to charge at him with his axe and jump upwards, hunching and then spinning to strike at the beast and slice a part of his skin. Blood dripped from the monster and it tried to slap the leader off, him unraveled from his attack and scraping the ground with his boots as he was pushed off.

Big stains of blood covered his naked chest, which he wiped clean as fangs relished on the thought of eating that huge motherfucker for dinner. Jack was next to him, swinging her whip around the beast's neck and extending it so it would choke his grand, whole body, but the monster easily wiggled and broke her weapon, throwing her off with his claw.

Jack landed on her back dangerously near to the edge, but Uraraka had no space to focus on her, but pushed her away from there before running forward, rain starting to fall on her as she dodged members from her guild. Her staff crossed the thin air before a big jump, a seal appearing beneath her feat and shining before bigger thunder and lights flashed closely above, her form petite and high off the cliff as she had altered her gravity.

Then, lights and electricity came crashing on the creature as the girl dove through the air, driving the thunder right into the beast as she summoned her cast. " _Divine Lighting Carriage_!"

And the monster did shriek even higher from this as smoke radiated off his body, and his claws pierced the ground as Uraraka landed with scraping boots and her knees brushing the ground as she hissed, pushed away from the beast as well. She realized that the beast was poking holes too deep into the surface– claws digging into the solid rock like butter and creating fractures too deep into the canyon, and then, a big deaf sound beneath.

Half of the ground of the esplanade gave in and started crashing down into the river fast, the members that stayed at the last line started to fall down, crumble with the broken debris and precipitating themselves into the dark waters, meeting their soon to be demise. Mina stumbled and almost fell, but was able to grab onto the edge of the broken esplanade and quickly caught Uraraka when the sorcerer screamed and almost fell as well.

"Are you alright, sis?" her right hand was tightly clasped around Uraraka's, yet her left one was slipping, and fast.

And the brunette, even in her state of agitation and unfathomable fear, could see this– she could see her hand so clearly. So many things were happening around her: the monster was still wailing at the guild, somebody had fallen into the river, and she could feel some more people struggling to hold onto the falling esplanade. She could see more rocks crumbling beneath her and crashing in the waters.

The portion to which Mina was holding onto would give up soon. And she would fall with Uraraka if the sorcerer didn't do something about it. "Mina, let me go!"

"What?" wind made things difficult to be heard, but the archer still held her tight in the middle of the chaos. "No way I am–"

Another deaf crash vibrated nearby, and more rocks crashed. Sooner or later, Uraraka would fall into the river, meters and meters and meters of void fall pivoting her future tragedy. "Please, Mina! If you don't let me fall, both of us will!"

"Uraraka," one of her fingers slipped, and the pair was tugged a bit down. The sorcerer held her breath in, eyes widening. But Mina's hold on her never lessened. "don't be a pain!"

If she could, she would float the way up, but in this state of agitation and exhaustion from the run and the fight, there was no way she would be able to go up there again and stand straight. There was a loud gruff curse, a scream, and somebody else had fallen again. "Mina, you must trust me on this!"

This made the pink girl look under her, grimace at the pain this was supposing, and started pondering the thought. She was quick to shake it away. She would never let a comrade fall, not in her wildest dreams! If Uraraka fell down to the river, she would probably die from both the crash and the rocks that laid below them. Thunder clapped, rain started falling, wind howling in the middle of the thunderstorm, and Uraraka felt both of them giving up on their stone hold–

"Forgive me for this, Mina!"

Uraraka used her last resort to summon a little flame that burnt Mina's hand scarcely, making the archer let go for a moment in deep pain– but then, Uraraka was falling down, her hands reaching out for her friend again as air was knocked out of her lungs, a scream of hers piercing through the storm as she fell down across the canyon, compassing the raindrops and nearer and nearer to the wild waters inching closer to her.

Suddenly, there was no feeling of ground anymore. Her stomach was sinking into her, her organs lurched as she desperately tried to hold onto something, anything in her way, not knowing where solid ground was but only aware of the music of crash and rumble, quake and death climbing up to her as her body only fell down faster and faster, away from the stars and moonlight she had once soared under.

In a second, her body splashed and there was nothing around her anymore. Silence surrounded her as rocks and debris crumbled into the water with deaf bursts of rock meeting ground, foam forming at her fingertips and strands as her body plummeted down, almost touching the deep ground before the current starts pulling her away– and she let herself be taken as the fall sunk into her and all pain and sudden notion of having stopped numbed her.

Consciousness and pain mixed, narrowing down to something sharp and full of grim colors she couldn't see in the darkness, the only feeling that kept her alive actually trying to kill her. Water ran down her throat as she tried to breathe unconsciously, and all sensations crackled down to numbness and pain, all taking her down the trashing river.

Until, suddenly, something soft and nice enveloped her in the night, an insane cycle of destruction and agony stopping. Feet below the surface where it was darker, muskier and wetter, with a heartbeat where silence was all that bubbled around her again, and the warmth made her feel safe, like a child in a lost home of gray hues where a family once lived, where a child once lived.

And the last thought she had was... that is was so warm down there, in the dark, deep in muddy water, with him. It was so… _nice_. This place, she couldn't feel scared here.

The image of a scattered young, blonde boy crossed her mind like s hooting star, crossed in between the strings of times and lost galaxies, fluttering out of space.

" _Katsuki…_ "


	4. C ha pteȑ 1

**[A/N]** : AFTER A MOOOOOONNNNTHHHH IIII LIVEEEEEEE /kicks door open

So yeah I am so fucking sorry for the delay but uni got me, personal stuff got me, everything got me and I was basically cornered and wtf? I was kinda put down to drag moods but my mates at the server are a blessing to be with and kinda cured me. Not to mention this chap sucks a little and I will prolly be thrown off a damn window because of it.

/breaks pen.

* * *

"Uraraka, Uraraka!"

A muffled voice was calling her in the distance– screaming, touch blistering as all surrounding her skin reacted to the calloused touch, the hands of a madman shaking air out of her until there was no feeling of skin differentiation anymore, and suddenly, consciousness came back to push her into the real world and gasp for needed air. It was like technicolor exploding into her, suddenly reeling her out of the blackness and, in a moment, all she saw was the color of blood.

"You motherfucker!" she very well knew who that gruff voice belonged to, but she was too busy coughing the swallowed, raspy water of the river. A hand came to slap it all out, which only gave her sore skin on her back. Her body contorted, twisted to a side as the fit got tougher. "I can't believe you would be so damn reckless!"

Uraraka wiped some remains of water off her chin and blinked up to her leader, who was squatting on her side with the most displeased grimace she had ever seen him sport. Now that she noticed, he was also soaked to the bone, hair dripping and pants heavy. "B-Bakug–"

The blonde leader let out a tch of impatience and shook his head. He didn't even offer a hand to her before getting up. "That stupid thing threw some of us off the cliff, and now we are stuck here." his head snapped to meet the clearing sky, raising his fist to the air. "I can't believe we didn't get him, he would have been plenty useful as a food source."

The brunette focused her eyes on the streaming river, calmer now and splashing at her feet. The dreadful canyon stood in a faraway distance from them, clouded by morning mist and the orange streaks of sunrise. Light hit on the walls and gave the peak a magnificent glow, surrounded by clouds of aftermath and ash permeating the air, a clear evidence of the catastrophe that had taken place a few hours ago. As she looked around, she stumbled upon the realization that they must have been carried by the currents for a part of the path, and Bakugou had probably– she gasped.

He seemed to notice her sudden realization, for which he looked aside with a regretful sway of his eyes. His fists were tense, arms extended, yet his whole self was consumed by a somehow tired and fighting stance. "You were the one who… _saved_ me?"

Bakugou hissed loudly and slapped his cape against his legs in an attempt to dry it, but ended up having to squeeze it with a grunt of displeasure. He had a knack for wearing thin and light clothing, and his cape would sometimes be uselessly lost in the spur of a battle. Turns out this was the only time when it would have been useful to _not_ wear it. "Not a big deal. I'm making sure you don't owe me any more of your glittery stuff–"

Uraraka quickly rose to her feet and clutched the fabric of her dress frantically, only to notice that her clothes were oh _so_ damp and her gloves were gone, tattered with dirt and water. Still, this fact didn't let her lose focus on the matter, caution prevailing on her little steps around his heart. "You saved my _life_ , Bakugou! This isn't a small deal!"

And a part of him knew this to be true. Once her little body had crashed against his on the currents, he had almost immediately wrapped himself around her to protect her– and it was so _hard_ to admit it, but all that had crossed his mind when he felt her aimlessly spinning was that he needed to keep her close, because she was a damn valuable member of his guild and he wouldn't let her off his sight that easily. He had found grip on the seams and tugged them both up for dear life, her body still clutched to his chest when he dozed off, and still close to her when he woke up again.

The quiet rush of the waters near him were a grim reminder of how far things had sunk into complex waters of unknown feelings, his heart stretching and twisting the peaks of his fixated vision into something so much darker and stranger than he had ever seen. Bakugou was so stranger to peculiarities and irregular corners– after all, he had to deal with crashing timelines and a freak trashing at the end of his horizons. Yet, when he looked at the soaked, puffing woman, he saw something deeper than any of his journeys combined.

Depth. Yes, _depth_. That was all he could see when it came to her.

He was still torn between deeming it to be a good thing or not, that he had mindlessly risked his life to shield hers back there, where water soaked more and bit less. It had felt so _right_ to get her away from there, and no matter how much he fought to deny and hate that feeling, he just couldn't really reject her openly without backtracking.

Then, he looked into her clean eyes. Was that what she felt on a daily basis? Were these feelings all she felt when she looked at him so intensely, so menacingly yet so warm and kind to him? When had that part tagged as annoyance bloomed into something he saw as positive now?

Bakugou gritted his teeth at her, a short lived action. If only he could go back to automatically wanting to slaughter her… somehow, the idea didn't sound appealing anymore. And he… was so tired of fighting the currents anymore.

This time, when he had fought the currents, it turns out she had appeared in front of him and all he had done was protect her. He didn't feel like the danger factor hung so heavy anymore. It felt… nice.

Sun peeked from between trees and hit on Uraraka's crooked hat, on her temple, washed over her left cheek and reflected on her eyes, twinkling against his hardened ones. Wind blew again around them, making their heavy clothes and hair sway, the shadow of a small boy falling in front of her for a second, smiling at her and taking her hand like a happy child with a sister, only to fade away slowly with the blink of her eyes.

Sunshine filtered between his tresses as well, slowly, as the orange light cascaded faster on her and made his breath hitch dangerously crisp in weird places he had never known. Something clapped louder inside of her heart, and he suddenly looked so _handsome_ in the sunset, with her, the river streaming at her feet.

"I…" her mouth was dry, hands realizing the emotional burden he must be carrying, conscious of the tremendous leap he had taken for her. "I can't define how thankful I am to you, Bakugou. I owe you a big one, and I will spend the rest of the path showing you so!"

Her head bobbed a bit in agitation, lips moving yet he couldn't really comprehend the will behind them. All he could see was how beautiful her skin shone in the milky sunset, steaming off light like the sun with the peace and serenity of the moon. That itching feeling in his heart, it was so annoying – he scratched his chest a little, feigning a mere pain but aware of the danger being inside of him, not outside. "No need to go that far, Uraraka. I am the leader of this damn guild, it's my mission to fucking ensure your safety."

"Even _mine_?"

That was the real quid of the question, because while Bakugou cared about his peers evenly, he couldn't even dare cross her out like another one of them, because for better or for worse, she wasn't like them. Uraraka was the embodiment of all he hated, yet also all he wanted to be if he was given the chance to be born again. She was confusing, something he had always pushed down with so _so_ much care he had never expected her to grow out of his reach.

It somehow hurt to admit that he needed her more than he would ever aknowledge. She was strong, stupid, and that vicious tag he had put on her so stubbornly, the walls he had built around her had faded somewhere in the past, along with their bickering and their silent oaths of loyalty and promises. It was no longer possible to deny that she mattered, too.

And now it was time to let it shine.

"…Yeah." admitted he to the lullaby of his rushing heart, wind tamedly blowing and sunrise washing over them. Her eyes widened a little, and her hold on her clothes tightened some notches.

And Bakugou turned around, wiping his cape to try and remember where he had reached to see the others, maybe a pair of his comrades lost somewhere around them as well. He could recall having seen half-n-half nearby, and also a woman, yet he wasn't sure of the latter's identity. He took a step in the direction of the forest, scratching his cheek in wonder–

Something thudded on his back and sneaked arms around his waist. After a intake of air and seeing the rigged sleeves of his peer around him, his shoulders tensed. He could feel her cheek nuzzling with his cape despite its wetness, and she felt so cold on the outside yet so fucking warm with the gesture. His arms tensed and flexed in pure instinct.

"Oi, what the h–"

"Thank you so much, Bakugou!" repeated she again, but the load hung heavier on the air and her voice was clearly strained. "For looking after me! Thanks for…" her arms tightened around him, and his arms somewhat gave in and limped on his sides, eyes somber and expression tight. "for trusting me, for walking blindly and… I swear I won't let you down!"

Something sounded in his ribcage, Uraraka knew. He took a big gulp and his voice was uneven, but hard and off to her. Gruff, yet low, and he suddenly didn't feel like himself anymore. "You better not, Uraraka."

She then gingerly removed her arms from him, and padded slowly behind him as she fell into pace with him in silence. Bakugou could still feel the weight of her arms around him, and when she had taken it all away – the newfound giddiness of a hug, the warmth of her presence and the burst of colors behind his eyes – an uncomfortable void had poked itself in his gut, because a part of him wondered what it would have felt to hug her back.

He would regret that, too.

"I have seen Yaoyorozu somewhere nearby the river when we got here, and I bet some more people must have fallen down that damn cliff." of course Uraraka tensed stiff like a dry leaf, and the boy eyed her warily from ahead. "No need to lose your shit over it, they will be alright." he palmed over his waist and visibly relaxed when his fingers touched the silver of his now wasted sword.

The sorcerer followed the weapon in deep curiosity, hands folded in front of her chest. His hands were clenched around the handle, tempting the fates of the ruined fabric – it was torn on some sides, almost outstretched at the back and stained beyond repairing – as his calloused fingers tested the feeling of being guarded again. It was then when she realized that her wand had been lost as well in the spur of the river, and her head shot to the shore to see if it had ended somewhere nearby.

Still – understood she a bit later on – she could still do hand wielded magic. Uraraka gave her hands a little shake and light streamed from them effortlessly. It would drain some more energy than usual, but perhaps this would be good for her training.

The pair entered the forest, yet scanned the shore behind the trees with precautious eyes. "I can't see anybody yet." spoke the mage after a few minutes, the path stretching on and on deeper into the forest. "I wonder how far they may have gotten."

"As long as they are alive, all is good for me." answered Bakugou, almost ignoring her while his focus was put on his discarded comrades. "The river flows straight into the Capital. If the streams have taken them nearer, the faster we will get there."

The Capital… she had read some about that place while skimming through spell books – which had been useful this far and frankly, she couldn't wait to get more of them – and meals at the guild. It was an awful big place with scattered halls and stadiums, a whole palace sitting at the very center of the town with a cathedral somewhere in between houses and shops. It was mostly known for its grand walls surrounding the place, guarded by an invincible crew of ruthless reformed barbarians.

It had all seemed so dark and dangerous to her, but after seeing some paintings of it and acknowledging the fact that Bakugou and the rest would be with her, she felt a bit more assured, safe. Just having the leader close filled her with newfound security, and it made her smile to herself– she enjoyed this feeling, that of seeing him as somebody she could entrust her body to.

A part of her wanted to think he would actually take care of her even now that they were even duty-wise. A part of her knew that it was more complicated than that.

"Speaking of," she continued her train of thought absent-mindedly, but judging by how his pace slowed down the tiniest bit, he wasn't strolling too far from her own thoughts. "how are you feeling?"

Disappointed with such measly question, he stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the river. "Perfectly fine, Uraraka."

"I wasn't exactly talking about your body." the girl fidgeted on her place, and the boy actually looked back with something similar to surprise knit on his rough features. "After our fight with Midnight you… were having some awful…"

How to word those murmurs that would turn into screams in the dead of the night, when she was most unprepared yet most pendant? Were they nightmares? Were they memories? What was all that he had said so fast and jumbled that it had left her unbroken, bleeding fast inside and feeling that very same trepidation she sensed whenever he was near?

There was something intangible keeping them separated – yet undeniably close, spiraling one around the other aimlessly, her nails scraping the metal of their chains yet never rendering them useless, and she needed to know what it was that had troubled him to get chunks of separation out of their way and grasp the whole meaning of it all.

"Spit it out." murmured he. A shadow had fallen on his eyes, fangs clenched in a menace that he always put up automatically. "We don't have all time for this, Uraraka."

The last part seemed ironically incorrect and worthless, but that was not the point.

"Well, you were mumbling lots of stuff and cried when we are treating you at the bay, and even back when I was carrying–" this was the first and last time she would even blush at such mention of close contact with him. He raised an eyebrow, clearly lost in her mind games. "carrying you to the village. So I wanted to know if–"

Bakugou was no fool, and clearly caught up fast as well. His response was a snap of a branch with the blade of his sword, voice hoarse and a few octaves lower. "That's… not your goddamn business. Don't pry."

"So you remember, huh." she didn't even acknowledge his threat, only scratched her temple. Uraraka was way too used to his shenanigans, and only needed to look deep into his eyes to see that something had been nagging at him from behind all along. "I am just worried, you know. You truly looked messed up."

And he had to bite back a sarcastic remark because he definitely never looked like a mess– if only, she was the one who was always a mess, dress dirty and hair bloodstained, but that was not the point. "Again, it's not your battle to fight. I'll be alright."

The leader sprung back to his side and carefully strode down a little slope to an uncovered shore, leaving a saddened Uraraka behind, clutching her heart in even worse worry. "Bakugou…"

She had seen it, the sting of his eyes and the aloof feeling to his words. They hadn't tried to bite her, or push her back– actually, they had unwontedly drawn her closer to his seething heart. Something dark had sparked between them, in her heart, like a mirror facing a crowd of mad bees chasing after a sugar spoon. It was venomous, not easy to tackle, tough and long, but she would have never expected Bakugou to be one to passively reject a hand and not reach out.

Admittedly, she could understand his reluctance to swat her away, but the fact that she had gotten so close to reeling truth out of him only fueled her fire. Her resolve got tougher, stronger, brimming in her eyes, and she promised herself to ask him about it later.

In the meantime, Bakugou heard her skip after him instead of using the traditional way of simply sliding down slopes. She could have slipped on the landing and she for sure didn't even care. "Don't go jumping around or you will end up hurting yourself. I ain't carrying you to the Capital."

Uraraka's soles slid a bit, but they just scratched some stones. She gracefully avoided a clumsy fall with some arm flailing. "I am alright, meanie! No need to be so gruffy about it– Uh!"

There was a cough near them, a strained retail of raspy breaths and cuffed life resonating a few meters ahead of them. Uraraka stopped on her tracks and snapped at the leader in alarm, whose storm brewed eyes shone in alert. He knew who that was, too. "I can't fucking believe this."

Uraraka nodded – somewhat agreeing with him – and rushed ahead, hearing the leader's frantic steps stomping against the mossy ground in pace with hers. A blob of black appeared, then there was a silver armor and a floret shining against the sunrise that peaked on the transparent streams. The sorcerer had to cover her eyes to nor blind herself, eyes lost in a sea of orange of the sky and the redness of that familiar armor.

"Damn…" the woman's chest shook again, heaving up and down in distress. Her elbows wobbled on the earth, and attempted to support herself once again, grimacing under the other two. "My arms…"

"Yaoyorozu– please, stop." spoke Uraraka softly, hands on her knees and head tilted for kindness, a very needed softness in this stray condition. The knight looked up, eyes lighting up upon seeing the pair. "We can't allow you to strain yourself too much. Are you injured?"

In other circumstances Uraraka would have thrown her arms around the knight– yet again, this situation wouldn't invite hugs and kisses over. While Uraraka hastily healed her mentor, they locked glances and simply nodded, glad of seeing the other alright. Bakugou was too busy being a bit shitty for the time being.

"We need to get to the Capital as soon as fucking possible." spat the leader, hands in his pockets and eyes bouncing from the river back to the girls. "Otherwise we will be even more delayed and we were for once working in schedule. We have two days and one night to get there and I have no fucking i–"

"I had planned on making a boat, Bakugou." Yaoyorozu thanked the sorcerer briefly before getting up. Her skin was marred in little bruises from crashing with rocks in the river probably, hair completely disarrayed – now that Uraraka noticed, hers was also a bit messy, caked with mud and probably an awful amount of bugs and leaves – and her eyes were dulled, no more glaze of licking fire gracing the view. It made her stomach lurch with worry, but pushed it aside. "But there is an awful storm coming, I'm afraid."

This made the other two turn to the canyon without sparing a moment, and saw a mass of black clouds rolling from the back into the sunrise. The path to the Capital along the river was clear, sun gleaming on the crystal river, but something dangerous would approach them by the middle of the day. The brunette craned her eyes to the squinting leader, whose shoulders were tense in planning. Uraraka had always known this guy was intelligent, but he couldn't live up to life's mad racketing, and this sure was a setback to his prior plan.

So much for marching straight to the Capital. Judging by Bakugou's grim expression, he didn't like that, in a constant hurry to get to RampAge. Everyone was pretty hasty about the issue, but the fact that the blonde was so especially enthusiastic about getting it done so quick stood out like a sore thumb to her. And his voice came out so thick and strained that her suspicions only burst into a technicolor of darkness and sudden dread.

"Where the hell did _that_ shit come from?" barked he, and no wonder some swearing had dipped into her vocabulary considering how much time she spent with him and his foul mouth. Uraraka had the urge to scoff.

Yaoyorozu crossed her arms, watching the clouds make their way to them ever so slowly with critical eye, brows knit in frustration. "That's what I'd like to know. I can't believe the next electric storm will get us while we are on a trip– also, I can't create anything akin to a mean of transport with this little energy and the risk of crashing on the air."

The brunette glanced at Yaoyorozu, wanting to ask oh so many questions, yet she remained silent. In such state of confusion and still trying to pick up the pieces of such catastrophic defeat at the canyon, she was in no place to meddle. She let Bakugou speak while eyeing the incoming storm with slightly narrowed eyes. Probably timelines weaving wrongly. "Seeing how the wind will pick up soon, we better take refuge somewhere."

Something clanked wrong in such brash plan, and it was time for her – as the everlasting opposite force to Bakugou's rash plans – to counterattack him. "We can't go take refuge so lightly without looking for others! There may someone injured nearby."

The hunter growled because she was right, as she usually was and there was no moment in which he enjoyed her having the upper hand. This time though, he knew the field better than her, used to survival trainings and knowing how to handle it. Not like he would convince her despite his obvious expertise – it was Uraraka who he was talking about, for crying out loud – but he wouldn't waste time in making her agree with his ideas.

"Yeah, but we can't risk our lives so lightly, either." his red irises swirled around the curves of the black puffs of chaos in the sky, frowning. "We are in a forest. The risk of having lightning reach us is too high to handle this with much other perception other than survival. We can't let a pussy storm ruin our plans because we tried to play hero."

Again, that man was intelligent to a horrifyingly high degree. His ideas were sharp, logic fast and convictions quickly founded. Whoever who mistook this mess of violence and buried emotions with an uncivilized beast was dead wrong, and Uraraka could bet that he would most probably outsmart in many aspects of life. She was no wimpy ass though, and she would not back down from the challenge of proving him to be a smartass better than him.

"Still, there may be somebody nearby who is injured." supported Yaoyorozu. She was also wary of this option and didn't really feel up to taking too many risks, but the whereabouts of her comrades worried her as well. She couldn't help but imagine any of her close companions hurt and get this gnawing feeling of nausea crawling up her throat. "I suggest making a quick sweep of the zone while we seek refuge. The shore could have washed over anybody and brought them to land."

Uraraka looked up to the leader expectantly, whose face had clouded with hesitation and vacillation, yet he ended up bending to the circumstances. "Sounds fair enough. But you better watch after your asses, I am not a babysitter."

The blonde marched onwards, again wiping his cape behind with a puff of annoyance, followed by the wobbling knight and a very offended Uraraka. "Not like we need to be babysat, jerk!"

"Who are you calling jerk now, Uraraka? Wanna go!?"

Yaoyorozu meanwhile limped a little behind the bickering pair. "Such a bunch of children…"

* * *

"Is Yaoyorozu asleep already?

Uraraka was met with crimson eyes glaring at her from the walls of the cavern. Thunder rolled outside while she shook raindrops off her hair and cape, the sheltered logs clattering to the ground under his unimpressed stare. "Not like she could hold up for much longer. And whose body would that be if it were to be anybody else?"

Uraraka wanted to feign feeling offended, but she had no energy to do more than kick the logs into the embers nearby and limp on the wall opposite to his. "Please, don't be such a jerk today. I am almost dead now." the girl sighed. She could feel Bakugou's muderous eyes peeling skin off her body, and switched topics hell fast. "Did you give her the treatments I told you to?"

He nodded curtly and hit his head against the wall, making Uraraka briefly make her eyes dance around the shades thrown onto his body, muscles rippling under the light– she forced her eyes off his figure with a gulp, a light blush covering her face for a moment. His flickered against hers from underneath his eyelashes. "Can't believe Asui's lessons paid off. I thought it would go to damn waste." his eyebrows arched at her hunched complexion, not that used to seeing her so beaten up. "Did it take much to find something dry?"

"I managed. There isn't much rain as of yet, so it wasn't that much of a challenge." she combed her hair back and blew some bangs off her face, letting Bakugou admire the dimming shimmer of her cheeks. It unsettled him for some reason, and he didn't exactly know why. Her fingers threaded and threaded until her hair was completely disarrayed, and stayed out with lidded eyes eating the fire. "I just hope the fire lasts through the storm."

The blonde leader looked outside. The cave wasn't too deep, had an end to it near the entrance and was ample enough to keep the warriors far from the other. After such tiring experience at the river and battle against that howling monster, there was no fiber of their being which would hold up against the other if they strung the wrong chords. Their grudges against each other were getting smaller, but they were still bigger than their bones and broken soul.

The girl looked out as well, the eerie silence around her, rain failling softly near her and dampening the air in solemn reminder of the tight situation they wer ein, like a clock slowly ticking into a point of chaos and complex angles, her surroundings full to the brim with shapes she couldn't distinguish, yet it was all ther ein front of her, in silence, as if mocking her for being too idle in this situation. The environment was so stable and empty, yet full of life that she couldn't believe there was such existential crisis looming over them in that very moment.

The cave… that's where the old man lived, right? Her eyes tried to make out his shape in the midst of the storm, as if he would be waiting for her there, observing her– yet there was nobody there, and it somehow unsettled her that she had had contact with him in vain. Regardless, a part of her knew their encounter had meant something– she had felt it in the air, that shift whenever time pushed her onwards.

It felt cold around her, lonely in front of a fire, colder and bleaker than any nightmare had ever etched itself to her mind. There was this soaking notion of the leader being near her, but it was no more than a notion. All she could feel was the rain falling outside, fire consuming the logs, but it all fell on an invisible carcass above her. The notion of nihilism permeated her the same way that man's hideout had, and it only made her remember the clash of solutions that had surfaced in the span of a week.

Uraraka could clearly remember how Shinsou's eyes had melted into hers, like water sipping from a creak on a rainy ceiling, and had made her feel so many emotions at once. Looking at her hands, it didn't make sense for her to stick to Bakugou's opinion, because if she had met Shinsou first, it was highly likely she would agree with his ideas. Now that she thought about it, her opinions and ideas were more foundamented on circumnstances than on facts, and believe it or not, as a direct participant on the issue, she needed to think about where she stood.

Because while she was 100% sure she was against Shinsou, she needed to find out what else to do other than think about the madness behind that sorcerer. They needed a full-proof plan, and that's what she needed Bakugou for now.

"Say, Bakugou…" his eyes snapped from the entrance to meet her in a sideways glance, one that didn't make her feel at ease at all. "why are you so against Shinsou's idea?"

Bakugou clearly was too tired to join the dots, and frowned at her with a full-on glare. "Care to elaborate?"

Always so edgy, that man. Uraraka returned the hardened stare, needing points of view despite not really needing _his_ , out of all people. Yet, as a leader, he would offer a pretty expansive insight on the matter. If Yaoyorozu was awake, she would ask her rather than Bakugou, and and she would make sure she asked her as soon as they reached the Capital. "What Shinsou said, back then at the dungeon."

"What the fuck, Uraraka–"

"I am not taking sides, don't jump into conclusions." clarified she. Their eyes met above the fire, and there was something so enticing about his eyes staring at her so intensely, a far off memory lost in a sea of lost causes. "But I was still thinking about what got you so worked up about him. I know Shonsou's ideas are crazy–"

"You bet they are."

"– but still, is there an ulterior choice other than that?"

The blonde didn't alter his glare much after her world changing reaction. To be honest, he should have seen her coming. "Again, care to elaborate? I am not a damn mind reader."

He was getting defensive and edgy and she didn't like that thorny side of his at all. Her hands shot up in front of her defensively, smile quick to show but quivering at the corners. That man was something she could deal with for now, but he could get the best of her awfully easy sometimes. "I-I mean!" why was she even stuttering? she wanted to slap herself. "Well, all I know is that Shinsou has a plan and all, and he seems to have contacts and people to carry his plan out, or so people say – and I wondered, what exactly is _our_ plan?"

Bakugou's eyes softened to a somewhat tender shade of red, flickered with flames licking his slight fears away after seeing her so undeniably afraid of rubbing on him the wrong way, making her just look like an innocent soul– again, he knew she was by no means innocent, but the shade that the fire threw on her momentarily blinded him.

"Go for that RampAge fucker, smash it– just destroy that motherfucker." his violent string of wording left her a bit cold on the spot, and made her eyes widen. "Then we catch the man behind the curtains and beat the shit out of him."

Uraraka had always rolled with the plan, as when Bakugou had initially explained it to her – it seems like he had forgotten about that detail or decided to let it slip, as he hadn't reprimanded her for asking again – it had all seemed fine and easy, but after Shinsou's encounter she somehow needed to come clean with the situation again. She hadn't been given a choice to pick sides with either the good team or the bad team– but what defined each, really?

The sorcerer was likely to follow the _good_ path, but she also wanted to know what the other side had to it so she was ready for their tricks in the future. "I still don't know where RampAge's connection with the timeline issue lays. How can a monster be connected to such an intricate problem like time bending? And also, a sole man?"

It was obvious Bakugou was pissed by her inquisitive nature, but it wasn't like he shouldn't have gotten used to it by now. Look at her hands, at her eyes, those incandescent irises and her tough, violent hands which held gentle intentions with the weight of the world on her shoulders. For him, she was sometimes like a needle of glass supporting a basket of apples: fated to break, yet idle and uncracking. It sometimes made him wonder if he was made of other materials, too.

"Our theories aren't made out of thin air, you know." responded he, all but gentle, yet his voice came out like such and he hetaed this because it wasn't the first time it happened, above all in front of _her_. "And it's fundamented on other explorations from prior parties. Are you trying to dick with me or–"

"I wasn't attacking you, don't get so defensive." apparently he was being _defensive_ of it, because he actually flinched at the accusation. She noted that fact down among with all other things she had to do – they were piling up – and looked at the leader even more intensely. "I just don't see how such a monumental problem can be solved so easily."

"Our problems can't come from any other source than that, stupid. That damn beast appeared when our timeline was starting to be strained, when people started having these crazy visions and when my damn weapons disappeared from my storage." he jabbed his own chest purposefully, and stood up with a jump. "So don't try to play clever with me."

Uraraka also stood up from her safe place, straightening her clothes with a huff of disappointment, since there was no way she had actually hugged this man hours ago and they were bickering once again, after so many steps forward out of the hate zone. "I am not playing games, and while I do also see this option as the most fit–"

His lips were drawn into a snarl. "Then why question it!?"

"Because I also wanna know what path I am taking, I wanna know the exact reason as to why I am not going to Shinsou's side right now instead of–"

Bakugou jumped over the small campfire to the rhythm of lighting striking outside the cave, and he landed right before her, making the sorcerer take a step back until she was hitting the walls of the cave. "What the fuck are you even implying, mentioning that fucker now!"

He was way too close, his breath fanning against her face rapidly and gusting through some disarrayed tresses– but in a way, Uraraka didn't mind it much. From such close distance, she could name each of his eyelashes, count the endless number of little scars on his cheeks – what would he do if she touched them? – and stare at the glimmer of his eyes on hers, which were considerably wider. It turned out that the bickering from seconds ago was kind of forgotten to him, as a new indescribable feeling had settled and it was not going away.

His breath hitched.

"Actually, I can see where Uraraka… is coming from."

The smooth pair tensed dramatically and turned to see Yaoyorozu scrubbing her eyes, yawning and hunched over herself. A linen blanket lay over her form and pooled around her knees now, but Bakugou couldn't focus on that now. "What the hell are you doing awake _now_?"

If the knight hadn't known better, she would believe she had interrupted a sensitive moment between them, but that was impossible. It was Uraraka and Bakugou, for crying out loud. "You guys are a bit loud…"

The brunette blushed and let herself sink to the floor, clothes scraping the uneven surface of the cave walls. "I'm… sorry, Yaoyorozu. That was unacceptable from us."

Unexpectedly, Bakugou nodded as well, and sat down criss-cross in front of her, near the fire. His eyes lingered on her for a bit, aggressivity gone but now replaced with a feeling that didn't sit well with Uraraka. He didn't look dangerous now, he didn't look like himself and, for a moment, he had looked ambiguely better to her, so close to touching noses and his voice so intimate. What… had that even been for?

Why had he even looked so taken aback by seeing her so close? Uraraka rubbed her face in her hands, and felt like dying for even taking such little facts into consideration.

"It's fine, Uraraka." yeah, it wasn't. "I am a light sleeper. It's only natural you guys woke me." her voice was grainy, hoarse, and so unlike her. It looked like the river and the past events had taken the worst out of each of them, and Uraraka didn't like it a single bit. "Now, about Shinsou and all that, I can get where she comes from with all this."

Bakugou was confused by this to the naked eye, yet inwardly shaken up. "What are you talking about?"

The knight scrubbed her eyes open again, feeling how the fires fed her with energy and how Uraraka's curious eyes scanned her meticulously, as if studying her. That glance of hers would go like that ever so often, but it sometimes made Yaoyorozu wonder how many things could go through her head at once. "All we have given Uraraka ever since she came to us has been either a warning or small problems to deal with, but we haven't offered her our solutions other than destruction and messy havoc."

"Not like she fucking put up a fight on that matter, y'know."

The girl shook her head. "The point is, Uraraka doesn't understand how everything ties to our final showdown with RampAge. She trusts your ideas because they are marginally better than Shinsou's, otherwise she would be completely torn on what to do."

And that was the understatement of the year, because if there was somehing the sorcerer didn't understand was the foundings of Bakugou's planning and what had him so on edge with this foe. True, he was dangerous and a threat to humankind, but there was this _something_ that lurked behind his eyes, a glint to his skin and a tremor to his lips. It was absolutely terrifying to see a major pillar of her safety stand in the middle of a corrupted lane.

"I just wanna figure out what the point is." summarized the girl, looking at her feet as she was damn aware that the blonde was looking at her. "I don't wanna drive into another wall like with Pyrox, where all we won was gold and a ban to our heads. I just wanna know what the point even is of all of this."

And the blonde could understand where she was coming from as well, this time, because all he had given her was pain and hell to deal with while she tried her best, and only now did he see how stupid he had been for once thinking she would bite him lest he gave her his hand to cooperate. Those cheeks were to rosy for a beast, hands destined for destruction, yet on a year off-work, apparently. Uraraka was bruised, a bit bloody, yet she remained like a stained, lone sunflower in a battlefield.

It sometimes made him think she was special, too.

Still, he wouldn't give her that, so his teeth gritted again in distaste. "Already told ya, the disruptions come from that fucker, hereby we're gonna destroy him."

"It just seems so convoluted that such a enormous problem may come from such a foe like RampAge–" his glare was enough to have her scrambling for a comeback to cover her little slip. "But I can understand it though! I guess that time-travelling and this guy are the ones behind it, right?"

Yaoyorozu hugged herself with the blanket and crawled to their side. "The problem does come from time-travelling, but this monster has a good dose of history with time-travelling. It is theorized he is the one who holds all disruptional time knots together. We could say he is the one who keeps the mess going on."

That bit of information made sense, yet something was off and both older members could see the pieces clicking in the sorcerer's head. "Wait, if he is the one holding the _mess_ together, wouldn't it be dangerous for it to come undone?"

The tea cup shattered, and it seems like the shards were too sharp for her to take them lightly. It came as a big wave rolling over her and washing over in a blank slate of whispers and statics, making her whole body tingle in trepidation as her muddy eyes shifted to the leader, whose blistering pools stared right at her as if to mirror the same inward turmoil that spirraled in a sway of chaos and doubt, it all coming out as a pained grunt of messy incoherencies that left Uraraka realizing that he _knew_ of this setback– yet he was still willing to go on forward with yet again another risky plan, and it made her furious.

"What the hell, don't give me a bark when there is so much on the loose, Bakugou!" her voice shook her vocal chords and suddenly boomed across the cave, which was small and quickly enveloped her. "How can you be playing with the strings so uncarefully when something even worse than the actual–"

" _Uraraka_."

The girl was surprised to see that the female knight was not only unsupportive of her behavior – look at those black eyes, they clearly reflected something negative towards her, menace and scornful intentions shining through – but also seemed to be mad at her. Yaoyorozu sighed before speaking up. "I do agree with you to some extent, but I will never take your side on a matter like this. Trust me when I say he knows best this time."

The blonde silently thanked her for her intervention, because he didn't feel like spilling some scientific shit that late into the conflict. Uraraka had arrived at a late stage in life, and she had to understand there was no time for her to catch up with the logic behind her surroundings. All she had to do was trust them, but apparently she deemed it appropriate to stop and stare at all the interrogations around her.

He… didn't know what to make out of that, to be honest.

Still – he glanced into her sparkling eyes, a pair of pearls that never lost that angry determination of hers, and he _knew_ he liked it, more than he would admit to himself – he knew she wouldn't be backing off easily. There were so many corners to her personality he hadn't seen yet.

"I respect Bakugou in his role as a leader, yours as my almost teacher and you both as warriors and worthy counterparts– yet, I just don't see how experience can defy the login in this." Uraraka tried to even her voice and succeeded in doing so, yet her posture was rigged and bumpy, agitated. "How is killing a chaos vessel not a risk for just the mere potential of a time collapse? Is it really worth the ris–?"

There was a big slam on the air near her, and suddenly Bakugou was standing up again, hovering over her small form. The rotten blade that had been laying around was flung to her neck, in a fashion so dangerously similar to their first meeting, giving her this sinking feeling of him taking steps away from her after they had been so, _so_ close. "Listen up here. You got no _fucking_ idea what that asshole is. You have no fucking idea who it is and what it's planning, nor what it has done to deserve this punishment."

"But–"

"Don't interrupt me!" she silver metal breezed through her pulse, waking up hairs from her nape. The needles ticked against the clock, cures and poison scattering across a wronger timeline Bakugou was so hellbent on both destroying and saving, and the complexity of it all made her discover the thought that maybe, just maybe, more anwers to those mysteries laid inside of him, unawake. "I have my own reasons to chase that fucker, I know what it is capable of, I know his science, so just fucking shut up already!"

It also dawned on her that Bakugou had this little side of him that was so raw, animalistic and likely of him to be expected, yet it was also an uncanny side to witness. Because while he was brash and typically rude and just an ass, he didn't have such habit to scream in full force like he was doing now, or show clear anger and vexation at someone or something, like her and their current situation. It never crossed her mind that he was aggressive, yet not that abrassive as one would expect.

Why was it that he was constantly surprising her?

"Bakugou… I just don't–"

A hand came to rest on her shoulder, rubbing on the fabric of her uniform with concern. It stopped whatever dangerous discourse Uraraka was about to release, and trust Yaoyorozu when she knew and manifested that it wasn't good at all to keep on with a certain topic– above all when it involved Bakugou. "Let it be, Uraraka."

"I just…"

"It's settled, Uraraka." the sword was driven straight into the rocky ground, like a Excallibur finding its gravestone, and the leader just tried to shrug off the tension with a hand to his chest, the itchy feeling somehow appearing again. "I'mma go for a walk or something."

The only one to stop him was Yaoyorozu, as Uraraka was starting to feel the shame of prying too much into someone's life and she suddenly felt _mortified_ after probably causing another drift between them. If her condition as a sorcerer wasn't enough she had started taking too much trust with him and– the girl buried her face into her hands. "It's not wise to go around so carefree, Bakugou. The thunderstorm is coming and it's too cloudy to–"

"I don't give a fuck." snarled the boy too calm for both girls' liking, his body filtered by a clap of thunder and the blister afterwards. Something was shadowing his eyes, his hair, his whole essence– and Uraraka could feel that clank in his armor as if she had ran her fingers through it in a daily basis, but that wasn't the case and such notion of familiarity with him was going to be their end. "I'll be back soon I guess, I don't enjoy rain either."

With a last glance in her direction, full of sporadic hatred and nausea, he punched the entrance's wall and stepped into the rain, letting Uraraka see his hair weighed down to his jaw, his cape sweeping behind him– and he suddenly didn't look like the glorified leader he preached to be, he was just a broken boy under the weight of a secret he seemed to be holding inside and was bringing him to his darkest limits. Everything was washed into gray and dust, and he looked so frail and sad under the thunder's embrace, a element he had once thrived under.

It was unsettling. She didn't like it.

"What is…" her head slowly turned to see Yaoyorozu shaking her head, tucking herself to sleep again as if this was something to be brushed aside– and what the hell, it was all but that! "What did just happen? Is he gonna be ok?"

The girl chuckled from her position. "He is no small man, Uraraka. I am pretty sure you know that already." a beat of silence flew thorugh them, the knight aware of the wistful gaze in her eyes chasing his footsteps in the mud. "I'm sure you are still going to chase after him, right?"

"Huh?" her shoulders tensed, and her eyes whipped to meet hers hastily. "I don't know what… you are talking about."

There was a mumbled giggle from her, then a sigh of mixed contentment and mockery. "You two are always playing chase with each other, trying to poke in the worst places to trigger the other. It's kinda fun to watch at first, but I can understand his reaction when some topics are taken too far."

"I just… didn't know RampAge held a personal grudge in him."

Yaoyorozu hummed in stern approval clouded by the exhaustion in her eyes, yey she voiced her thoughts clearly. "Still, you can't go around asking mindlessly. Just… don't doubt him again. Do as he says."

Uraraka glanced out again, her eyes squinted in worry. Rain was falling hard outside, his weapon lay a few feet before her shadowed by the mist, and the rain would cancel out hs only innate ability: his hand wielded explosions. He was practically defenseless out there, where monsters could come chasing at him. Regardless, that wasn't her biggest worry, and one could quickly see that physical monsters didn't scare her as much. But the inner secrets he may be hilding back… they couldn't keep on being so blind to the other.

She needed to change that. "I'm just worried. I don't want to hurt him."

The knight was bundled in her blanket by the time Uraraka got up, her feet staggering to the entrance. Rain sloshed against the mud and coated the way to the river, into the forest and into a mist that seemed too cloudy for it to be barely noon. They had been walking for hours on end, from sun to sun until their limbs had been weak and their breaths and words ragged and dirty. Still, Uraraka felt as if her energy was fueled by that man's foul behavior, and there was no way to explain it any other way than magnetism, or some kind of masochism.

"Go find him." the sorcerer turned to find the girl probably tiptoeing into another realm of the universe, eyes dotting with dots of sheer exhaustion. Her whole body was numb after so much walking and the sensation of blankets like arms wrapped around her was… nice, like being lifted up by a cloud. "It won't do to reach the Capital with a severe delay because of his stupid ass."

This was the only time Uraraka felt like the insult was severely misplaced, and blamed it on his barbarian hands pulling on her heartstrings too clumsily, too carelessly that she felt too held down, too heavy and it just mattered too much when he was supposed to mean nothing. She could only hope she would get over it soon, because overworrying for somebody who was bound to _not_ care would be emotionally straining.

With a nod, the girl skipped out and immediately felt downpour cascading down her hair and hat, shifting it askew before Uraraka liiked up into the dark gray sky. The storm was hitting its chorus and there was no way to let it pass without wondering how such a punishment had come down from above when it was clear and sunny hours ago. Uraraka would have chuckled humorlessly if she had been tucked in a blanket, inside her guild room, but she could only muse over the absence of birds and the turned off hues of the dead forest.

The girl didn't have to walk too much to find herself lost, albeit momentarily. Trees and trees dodged her and created a little path to the forest, trunks hovering and leaves crumpling beneath her feet, humid with the rain and fog that was getting lighter and lighter. Uraraka would sometimes try to slap the volutes away, but found herself with more foggy paths. Still, the girl trudged through the rain and the humid air to find the river in front of her.

The girl squinted and it was all it took for her to find him spaced out, looking at the stream with strange fixation on its flow, sitting under a tree's shelter and he suddenly looked so small and vulnerable, as if he was made of glass, and it dawned on her that Bakugou was a stronghold, yet all barriers had their leaks.

Uraraka padded to him carefully, hand stretched out as if to feel his warmth in the middle of the rain, but it was fruitless, like most gentle approaches she tried on him. But, asif thunder had triggered him, red fierce eyes flashed at her like thunder, her heart feeling struck and paralyzed at his vicious glare and defensive flexion of his arms, curled on his knees. "What the fuck would _you_ want now?"

It was as if he had pushed them to the starting line again, stage tilting and makign her lean, stumble and fall into his games again. But Uraraka had learnt how to handle him, or at least how not to handle him. "I know it possibly means shit to you that I wanna apologize, but…"

His hair shadowed his eyes, weighed down by remaining wetness. "It doesn't match you."

"What…"

" _Swearing_." responded he between gritted teeth, spine tense. "The first day you came around you were still as fucking feisty, but at least a pure one language-wise." the leader scrubbed his jaw with a tint of recognition and rewinding. It suddenly looked like it had been so long since the night she arrived, but now they looked like complete strangers again.

"Bad habits tend to rub off, I guess." muttered the sorcerer in an uncharacteristic small voice. "I just… came to apologize for my behavior earlier." this time he did look up, waiting for her petty excuse to appear but no mumbled word came out, it was all sincere and heartfelt and he had this instinct that just wanted to trust her with his life. "Right before we began this journey I predicated my faith in you but… I let it slip once and it was clearly not the best time to lose grip on it."

The boy didn't look appalled at all by her meek expression, yet the way he slightly relaxed was a giveaway of his turmoil calming down, either because of her words or because her presence seemed to dim the rain around him. He wanted to think that it was because he was overly irritated with her to notice anything else. "Hell straight, Uraraka."

"I'm just… sorry. I _do_ have faith in your expertise and I will comply to your plans. I may not agree with them but it's not like I have other choices than that, right?"

"What other choices would you even have?"

"None! That's my point." conceded the brunette with a tight smile. When his back hit the trunk behind his body she allowed herself to approach him and take shelter by his side. The way she was suddenly towering over him almost made him tug her down with him, but it wasn't worth it anyway. "I will stick to your side because I am your subordinate after all, and it's not like I can go making rules up myself. I just… was a bit short on Shinsou's side and…"

"I… get it, somehow." stumbled Bakugou, voice relatively calm for the inner storm he was facing. When she sat down by him he had this urge to push her away. "We just don't wanna risk having you walk towards that side of the coin too easily. You are still under trial, y'know. Having you wander too far into others' opinions is a bit of a risk. Still a newbie."

The girl scooted a bit closer to Bakugou with this interested look on her face which was so raw it could very well be false, but this girl was too fucking transparent to even try to lie. She looked to be that kind of person who either didn't lie or, if she did, she could pull it off effortlessly. "I… know it's hard to believe but I _am_ willing to act under your orders, after all it's true I don't know best like you guys do."

"Well, as long as you don't fucking dare go with that bastard, I'm willing to believe you." rain fell hard in front of him, splashing on the river and hitting the mud, but they were sheltered, unaffected, and it made him look at her. Big mistake, as their eyes met only awkwardly to only look away again. He hadn't felt this stupid in his whole life. "I don't know what's the point to you coming for me into the rain, though."

Which was true, as Uraraka had no particular liking for the rainy, humid weather. "I was worried you would be too irritated to, I don't know, rage or stay out for too long."

"Again, I don't need–"

Uraraka kind of laughed and chimed in effortlessly, and he let her for this time. "I know, I know, you don't need my help, my care, whatever, but you saved me back there." her index pointed at the river, and he grunted in disdain as he could see her reminding him over and over already along their remaining journey. "I owe you this one. To care for you like you did for me."

"No need to make it such a personal issue, you know."

"But it _is_."

"Is fucking not."

The sorcerer crossed her arms, imitating his pose so comically he frowned at her. "Well then fine, it _is_ personal because it's me caring for you and… admittedly, I also need something from you."

She heard a hoarse chuckle reverberate from his chest. "Of course you do."

Yet, her determined stare didn't dim or falter under his blatant exasperated tone— one that had gone from angry and hateful to just antisocial and crisp, yet she could work him through that, so she just went straight to the point. "I need deeper insight into Shinsou's plan to know what kind of person we could be running into in the future."

Of course, Bakugou looked at her with this ethereal expression of thinking she was being goddamn nerd. She reminded him of that greenie bastard too often. "Why the fuck would I provide you with all that?"

The girl sighed, and this was probably the first time Bakugou saw her actually stop and think about her next words. After all, they were in no easy situation and it was pretty precautious of her to ask about her choices – again, not like she had one, but it was not like she wasn't right on being cautious when it came to Shinsou. Besides, she was one of the very few people who could actually sweep him off his feet and throw him off a cliff if she so desired, so he was in no position to be picky.

He still waited for her to beg a little.

"Well… again, I fear what we may run into and maybe knowing what his game is will help us predict his movements." yeah, he never took her for a retarded, so of course her question would be damn clever. "Besides, after what he told me at the dungeon, I can't help but wonder why his intentions are so obscure."

"It's not like I can tell so easily, I ain't a damn psychologist." protested he, but understood what she meant. "I don't really get why his purposes are so different from ours, after all his guild isn't particularly keen on crime or dark stuff. Shinsou himself is a pretty laid-back guy, but his thoughts are wicked and distorted."

She, again, scooted a bit closer. He didn't notice. "How do you know him so much?"

"Being both leaders from champion guilds makes it only natural for us to clash, even if it's only at those shitty reunions at the Council." the girl nodded, as this was something she had kinda guessed. Treaties and stuff must be a given in big places like these, above all when clashes like the one at the dungeon happened. "Regardless, he is more than vocal about his intentions, and has the contacts to make them a reality."

That thing about contacts should have hit her as hard as it did now long time ago, really, yet when it came to her she felt an odd mix of sensations, none of them precisely good or bad, just dancing on the limbo. "Who are these contacts though? Because I haven't seen much crime around here."

"Most serious criminals have hideouts in the outskirts, some are just illegal hunters at the forest and then there are little thugs, drug dealers and the like." that was the information he had told her prior to this mess starting, but he sighed and was ready to tell her a little bit more than he'd enjoy. "However, I know he has been consulting some rogue sorcerers and hunters outside… and we can't do much about it because there is a legal loophole on it."

"How so?"

"Well, in the same way we can't go chasing monsters from other territories, we obviously can't go chasing criminals out of our frontier. If someone is making dirty business out of our territory, we wash our hands about it and push it under the rug." explained Bakugou. And this also explained some more tidbits on their ban from the day before, yet didn't quite end the one on Shinsou. "That means we can't do anything about his deals with criminals outside because it doesn't affect our village quite much, and it fucking sucks."

"But that's stupid!" exclaimed Uraraka as if Bakugou hadn't complained about it enough, and he rubbed his face with a hand tiredly, looking at her from a corner of his eyes. "How does a universal matter not include our village itself? If Shinsou is toying with the safety of our world, thus our village, we gotta–"

"Again, not that easy." he was quick to shut her up before she went on a full ramble like greenielocks usually did, and briefly wondered where he was at the moment, hoping he was taking care of his people like he would. "Shinsou has dark plans… but we cannot legally persecute him. I wanna bust that motherfucker real hard, believe me, but it ain't easy."

"But he is so obvious about them…" said Uraraka to no one in particular, hugging her knees to her chest. "How hasn't the Council made echo of the danger and told other villages?"

"With the timeline thing on their and our hands, it sure looks like Shinsou just seeks attention– but I know that fucker real well. It's all in his loser eyes." it was a bitten bark about the leader, so fierce and full of hatred that it left her speechless again. His boiling emotions were so… raw, so damn animalistic and blistering. "He seeks time bending to just destroy our timeline, because, apparently, he thinks stuff can't be fixed and that _we_ cannot fix it–"

"And… you think _you_ can fix it." breathed she, her eyes wide and face a bit distorted in horror. "Of all things, something as complex as a time-space issue?."

He knew where she was coming from and hurried to clamp the shitbox close. "May sound presumptuous, but trust me it can be pulled off."

It clearly couldn't be pulled off, and Uraraka knew it. So many bitten words polluted the jar of her heart and started to thump and trash around, yet never broke her pensive posture because, again, this was _not_ her place to say anything. Still, it was true that Shinsou's plan was a bit too chaotic, but it didn't hold much of a candle compared to Bakugou's. Both were plain suicidal. And how the saying went, opposites attract, because two ends of a coin don't differ much from the other.

"Well, I just hope we can try to take out this... monster, this foe!" argued the girl, a meek insecure smile that Bakugou didn't look into invading her crestfallen expression. "I will train as much as possible to help you all, give it my all!"

Bakugou had heard that infamous phrase of hers some time ago, somewhere lost along the webs of an intrincated timeline but also somewhere closer to them, where fire hit harder and her sighs were less vibrant, less significant. Things had changed, his vision on her had changed– but her tone was as severe as it had been once, and this time he realized it could be significant.

"Ok, I fucking need to ask because you have had that shitty attitude ever since we set out and, Uraraka, what the hell?" he of course wasn't as assertive as he would have liked to, but that was another story he wasn't paying attention to that day. "What is this about giving this your all? Didn't I tell you the very first day that I wasn't gonna accept that shit on my–"

"It's different this time!"

"What did I tell you about interrupting me?" this little thing of his wasn't perpetual thing, as she had interrupted him endless times and it seemed like seldom did he mind it. "I don't know how this shit is different now. You still _do_ seem to be doing the same shit over and over again."

"What are you even–"

"I know your shitty business more than anybody else here, Uraraka!" exclaimed he, his voice rising a notch too high than he had intended. "I don't understand how many times have I told you to stop throwing yourself around like some drag doll!"

"How are you supposed to know about me better than me myself?" her voice was somewhat knit in peaceful wonder, something akin to curiosity etched to her eyes and this infuriated him, because while she used to be the tiniest bit shaken by his words some time ago it seemed like the coin had flipped and landed on the side he would be losing to. "I am precautious with what I do, I know myself better than any of you and know my limits."

The leader scoffed and jumped to his feet, the ghost of an abandoned town of ire and hell rising to thrive again in his eyes, blistering on hers so vividly that when thunder clapped, the girl jumped into the trunk. "I am not gonna say this twice: I don't have you in my guild to go toying with your own safety. I don't think you are so fucking stupid to use too much of your power and over do it, that's why I'm fucking training you in the first place."

When her head tilted a bit down in deep thought, he thought the conversation was done with and they could get back to their comfortable pace of hating each other silently while really not doing so anymore, as Bakugou was finding himself caring about her safety more than he should be allowing himself– because the thought of her on the line of danger didn't inspire much vexation in him anymore, but a gut-clenching sensation settled itself on his being and it wasn't moving no matter how much he growled at it or her to leave.

Though, she had to speak again, didn't she?

"Still," her arms were crossed when he looked again, hands supporting her elbows while her eyes were again pinning his down, like a hurricane did to a tree on a field of unshed rain. "I will give this battle my all, for the sake of those in danger and those who still regard me as a bad luck token!"

His brow knit in confusion, her hands tucked on her waist as another knit of her now overtook her features. Wind blew on them, the storm coming to a close. "What are you–"

A streak of shy sunshine hit on some trees, washed over her clothes and melted on a side of her face, eyes shimmering like a sparkling lake and rendering his thoughts speechless and blank. "This time, I will change the curse of times with you all, and we will put this world out of its endless slumber!"

And at this, Bakugou couldn't help bit wonder, speechless again, how many impossible promises would she make before she broke.

They walked to the cave in silence, the girl almost half a kilometer away from her leader and already asleep when the boy made his way into the cave. Much to his surprise, it wasn't Uraraka who was waiting for him to wish him a good afternoon of naps, but Yaoyorozu herself with Uraraka's bag on her lap.

"I'm sorry to disturb you… but I think we must talk."

The hunter sighed, eyebrows loose. He couldn't see things going any worse than they were already now, and realized in that very same moment they were about to go downhill. "Yeah, I think there's something we need to talk about."

Yaoyorozu wordlessly rummaged through Uraraka's bag and when her fingers tapped hard covers, she held in a sharp breath. "I found this in her bag." the book was given to the blonde, making breath hitch on his throat and lungs constrict painfully at the letters engraved in front of him. "And… I am disturbed by this."

Bakugou sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Didn't you actually tell her not to fucking get this?" his head shook. "Seems like she didn't make much out of it. I should have seen this coming."

"What can…" Yaoyorozu's eyes drifted to Uraraka's sleeping body, then flickered to Bakugou's hands. "what should we do?"

The hunter's eyes narrowed at the volume in his hands. "... _metamorphosis_ , huh."

* * *

"Oi kids, get here!"

"Father, we are not children!" Nameless ran to her tutors, flowers cradled to her chest in messy hues of pink and oranges. Another girl waited in front of her tutors. "I'm so sorry for being late!"

Mina frowned her eyes at her sister, glinted in malice and impatience at her sister. When Nameless was by their side, she watched her parents rub the girl's shoulders, yet never berate her for being so delayed on such an important day. "You are always late, sister! Get a hold of yourself for tonight!"

The brunette smiled at her sister sheepishly, and beamed at the shiny crown of flowers on her head. "I want a crown too! Why don't I get one?"

"So childish for not being a child, dear." mother put a set of dry sunflowers and daisies on top of the little girl's head, who seemed overly enthusiastic about the arrangement. She giggled into her bouquet of starry flowers, raising her hand to fit it a bit better. Her fingers skimmed through some petals, feeling the softness to them, and sighed in contentment.

Yet, there was no real happiness, it seemed – because she knew, in the end, nothing mattered. Life could go shooting in front of her like a shooting star and throw sparks to her eyes, lit them up in amazement, nothing would matter to her as much as she felt it should. Why couldn't she feel anything else than oddness, that crippling fear of being out of place?

Why couldn't things fall into place already, why couldn't the hanged man let the ties loose and let the puzzle pieces be settled? Why was the void only getting bigger? Still, Nameless would always smile, let the littlest of joys overpower her and let it all flow into her like a broken canvas seeking an artist's comfort.

In some certain places, the girl doing as much of a hand raise would startle more than one man.

"I love this so much, mother." then, Nameless shuffled a bit closer to Mina, the two smiling brightly at the other, surrounded by flowers and the starry night sky. The planets and comets seemed to be giving the little girl a rest from her hands, what she carried with them, and everything else that such a tiny girl could handle. "They look so good!"

Mina looped an arm around the girl's left arm. "We sure do!"

The brunette let her parents lead her away from the fields and into the lively path near the coast, hearing already the voices of talented singers and smelling the baking of fresh bread and salty fishes, all waiting for her while one of the petals from her crown fell apart, falling to the dirty mud.

The petal stood there for a while, maybe days, withered and disappeared with the earth around it, rain and piercing screams at its wake.

* * *

Life was good when skies were clear, clouds were somewhat gone and Bakugou was quiet for once – concluded Uraraka, her eyes shifting to the open sky around her. A change in the weather would have rendered her petty and whiny, her eyes shimmering in utter disbelief and stopping the sway in her hair, or the bounce in her step.

The breath of the forest and the murmur of the quiet streams had walked her into the capital with a lullaby, her chatter with Yaoyorozu somehow ebbing a weird feeling inside her chatter. The girl had sounded stern, had felt calm but had ended up coming across as mildly tired or irritated. Uraraka couldn't tell which, but there was no fiber in her being who was willing to give it much thought.

But then came a white something, a spot in the distance as the path cleared, as the river made a sudden turn to the right. A wide path with cobblestone laid ahead of them, and instead of staying behind to admire the grandness of it all, Uraraka was forced to fall into pace with her team again.

"Is that wall…?"

Bakugou increased his pace the littlest bit, either to get away from that mass of beating enthusiasm or to get there faster. Stones were missing from the nice paviment, some longer than others, and Uraraka also realized, as her steps trudged her forward, that some trees were brown with odd seasoning behavior, others chopped off, but the ones at the front stood mostly fine. Her eyebrows sunk in preoccupation, because how weirder could this get?

"The Capital." grunted Bakugou, and he made it seem as if he had been there all his life. The resentment he seemed to hold for this place told another story. "A madhouse."

He had seemed so eager to get here, yet he was so edgy now. What could have changed in the two nights they spent away from their crew. Something was shadowing his eyes, flickering his eyes with a flame no one would enjoy, yet she knew better than to hate the fire burning in his soul. After fighting with him, there was no way she couldn't bask in his sparks.

He was made of the same flesh than her.

Their steps slowed down again after going up a little stoned hill, and gasped at the comittee waiting for them at the gates of the town. "I can't believe this."

Strangely enough this was Yaoyorozu talking, not Bakugou who seemed to be about to explode. Uraraka though, didn't see anything wrong with a bunch of guards. After all the havoc with RampAge and the illegal hunters there was no way there wouldn't be a little guarding, right?

Bakugou was still fuming over this apparently, and quickly made his way down the short slope to get into the guards' peripheral vision. Much to the others' surprise, some guards acted on his presence and actually stepped out of the way, yet some stayed in their place much to the guild members' vexation. As he stepped closer, his words grew more frantic and he wiped his cape with much more strength. "Out of my fucking way! I have business in there!"

Ah, of course he would be too violent for the guard's liking, for they instantly puffed out like birds and refused even more to let him in. "Who do you think you are, boy? Stop the tantrum already."

Uraraka was quick to stop him before he drew his sword out, Yaoyorozu's hand on his bicep seemingly not being enough. "You won't do much for the situation by drawing your weapons out."

That calmed him somehow, so Uraraka stepped out to see if she could do anything to actually contribute instead of chopping some douchebags' heads off. "Excuse us, fellow guards, but we have important matters to discuss here with the heads of government here. We do not wish to put this sacred place in danger."

The brunette tilted her head back and wiggled her eyebrows at him in slight suggestion, shining with mischievous thoughts. _Not so difficult, right?_

Far from impressed, Bakugou emotionlessly smirked at her, the grudges from some days before shortly forgotten, despite having it deeply rooted that the talk would come one way or another. The girl whipped her head around to meet the leveled eyes of the guards, and their stares came across as vexating and somehow humiliating. Did these guys judge her for being a bit short and sweet-looking?

Honestly, if she put some damn effort on it they'd learn their lesson real hard. Instead, she swallowed her bruising pride and glared at them twice as hard. "I wouldn't like to repeat myself. My peer here has clearly stated that–"

"Oi, stop messing around, you too." one other guard stepped to the side of his mate, thumbing at the gates. "We have a situation in the city, and no one is allowed until this situation is cleared."

Uraraka bit her knuckles in frustration, because she had this inkling that there was little to zero truth in that. There was no ruckus, no disturbance in the air, and well– there was this blatant suspicion that if this were to be true, Bakugou and Midoriya would be informed beforehand by Sero and the spy team. Was Uraraka stronger and powered by the force of circumstances, been a bit more affected, and she would have wiped them out with no questions asked.

The fact that Bakugou had his arms so tightly crossed and he looked so pissed off didn't put her at ease either. Yaoyorozu, being the most mindful out of the trio, bit her tongue back before making the matters worse. However, Uraraka could tell she thought the same as she was thinking, and what Bakugou thought as well.

Sensing the awkwardness in the air, the sorcerer tugged at the high collar of her uniform, shrugging uncomfortably. "Well? What are we gonna do now?"

Bakugou tapped his fingers on his biceps, eyes blistering against the silver armors of the henchmen. He was severely torn between smacking those guys out of his damn way and directly breaking through in any other place, like a wall whether it had doors or not. Seeing how the situation was, though, he just poked daggers onto the other guys' backs, as they turned to their initial position just before the gates. "I wanna bust those fuckers into ashes. To be fair, it's not their fault some asswipe put them there."

The soldiers stood at the gates, silent and unyielding as if they hadn't heard them. They probably hadn't. "Bakugou, we can't stand here. The others must have gone in there already,"

Unlike the brunette would have expected, he only frowned and spoke as angrily as he could, no curses flying at her for being persistent. It was like the mightiest of magics to her to see him so quiet and relatively peaceful – albeit undeniably angry and grumpy, too much for the hunter –, and it would never tire her. The brunette smiled at him from the corner of his vision, and his chest puffed out a bit at this.

He was livid at her after the unfoldings from the other day, yet couldn't help reacting to her in any form possible.

"Bakugou, Uraraka is right." agreed Yaoyorozu, receiving a fair nod from Uraraka. "As you said, we have stuff to do in there. No matter what the situation is in there, it can't be that bad for us to interrupt our journey."

Yaoyorozu sighed, because the leader wasn't open to anyone's suggestions. His body and mind were separated into different entities, eyes drifting across the wall, probably seeking for ways to blow it up, and Uraraka was there, thinking as well– yet none of them were being proactive in the only occasion where it would be necessary when they were jumping at the other's throats in a daily basis.

The knight looked around meekly, hand to her chin as she racked each brick with solutions for the problem. She could create a catapult with her ability, or a ladder. Bakugou could blow up an entrance, Uraraka could lift them up. But them trespassing a legal border when being straight told they could not do so was not only illegal, but also dangerous if the situation at hand was bad.

They wouldn't know unless they tried.

"Guys," both warriors craned their head to their wandering companion. "it's of no use to remain here, we'll just have to wait."

But they were no fools, and knew what the knight was up to the moment her head whipped to fast, and how her feet marched straight to a side of the wall. Uraraka marched respectfully behind her peer, hands clutched to her front, but also saw Bakugou seething at the guards in a pretty ungraceful manner that had Uraraka stopping her walk and facing him briefly.

"Bakugou." her firm voice got his eyes on her for a split second. "Stop barking mentally at the guards. We gotta get moving somewhere, we are wasting our time here."

But the hunter's feet didn't move, and that prompted Yaoyorozu to stop as well. The moment one guard turned a bit to smirk pridefully at the blonde, the girls knew Bakugou had been triggered. When his hand clasped the ties of his cape and the fur around it, Uraraka shuddered. "Bakugou, what are you even–"

Yaoyorozu wasn't able to finish her sentence as she observed in terror – or awe, she couldn't tell – how Bakugou discarded his cape on Uraraka's hands. "Take care of this, I fucking hope you can do that much."

When he was a few meters away from her, the brunette took the liberty to hiss and bunch the fabric in her hands, fists shaking in agitation for his rashness and stupidity when pride got the best of him. Not like he wasn't that was fairly often, but there were times when it spiked up and it would never get less annoying to her. Bearable, yet still vexating.

"Oi, fucktards." some guards gasped at this outrage and held their shields a little higher. None of them held any difference between each other to Bakugou, and only faced them as pawns he had to move out of his way. "I don't wanna cause a pool of blood here, and you all sure know how capable I am of doing so without thinking twice."

None of them moved. If anything, they dig their soles to the ground and started murmuring among themselves, the silver shine of their stupid armors only making Bakugou's job a tidbit harder – but he was never one to back down from a challenge. If anything, he was the one to either trigger or finish them, and this time was no fucking exception. "I ain't asking once again. Either you fucking back off or I'll back you all off."

When the sorcerer behind him witnessed him twisting his wrists a little, her gasp came hurried and hasty. "Bakugou, don't!"

"Back off, you two." grunted the blonde, somehow making some guards actually _giggle_ at an arrogancy that seemed undeserved, but they should know better than to underestimate him. "I ain't nursing you inside once this is over."

"What the hell, Bak–"

The leader of the team drove his palm forward, grasping his wrist for precision to then send ripples from the depths of his power, fire soaring to life in front of the guards and exploding in a huge nebula of pressure and ash which made his boots hiss against the dry soil at the pull as the fires licked the guards' skin beneath the armors, melted some spikes and set the spears on a havoc of fire and screeches at the bestial display. A warm dash of air washed over the area as Uraraka covered her ears at the white noise of various ripples eating the guards alive.

The leader's eyes had turned vicious, blistering and hungry for more flesh to burn, yet when he felt his peers give in a little to his power, he retrieved his hand from the attack and clenched his fingers in to feel his skin peachy, yet alive like it had never been. His attack had successfully cowered the mob to a stuttering mess, and Bakugou suddenly felt like a tower looming over mice.

"I gave you a damn wise advice." chided the blonde sternly. That was the girls' cue to come in, which they did with hesitant step. "No one stands in between my and my mates' goals. Not when there is something on the fucking loose as dangerous. So go fuck yourselves, you ain't of use here."

Uraraka found herself stumbling with her own words, because if his eyes had ever been so lively and frisk, she never took notice. Yes, his eyes, _his_ irises were still there, they blinked and saw, but what lay behind it flickered gone for a pair of terrifying seconds in which his path had been momentarily blocked.

This man must be tired inside, something seeming to fuel his determination and dampen his rock solid body in something that seemed so raw, so human.

Yaoyorozu found her voice, but when it finally came out, it was somewhat coarse. "I wouldn't have been so brazen." but it was the only way out, too. "Will they be alright?"

Bakugou saw some guards scramble to their feet and break into a run, jolting out of the gates. Others lay limp and motionless on the cobblestone to where the leader walked, and deadpanned. "I should have for being so goddamn stupid. Otherwise, they'll be fine."

Uraraka looked around briefly. "We've got to keep moving. If chief guards or whatever authority they have here see us, they will have our heads."

"Well, the gate is open and empty now." addressed Yaoyorozu with a hand to the molten parts of a guard's armor, mildly impressed. "I don't think we had spectators other than this little crew."

"They talk so much shit about security, but they have their gates open all day." Bakugou sighed in exasperation while trudged forward, dragging Uraraka along by the arm emotionlessly as she stared into nowhere. "Let's get in there already, the rest must be waiting for our slow asses."

Yet, Uraraka dug her soles into the ground and pointed at a spot behind some trees that had Yaoyorozu standing still as well. "Hold on… Bakugou."

" _What now_?" spat he with an impatient grimace that only grew in depth as his step died, and followed the indication of her finger.

The blonde let out a loud whined groan. Two little heads sprouted from behind a tree, eyes gleaming at the previous show of might.

" _What the hell!_ " his hands flew to his blonde mane, teeth hissing in annoyance at the two girls that skidded out of their hiding spot. "And who in the world are you two, midgets?"

The little ones were met with a threatening figure hovering over them the nearer they got, approaching the foreigners with meek expressions of both surprise and intimidation for the blonde. Uraraka clearly saw through them and walked to them softly, silently hoping Bakugou would stop whining around like a baby whenever something unexpected happened. The guy could get a grip on himself.

"Don't be startled, he isn't that dangerous." which prompted her to be almost knocked out by Bakugou's very same hands. "We are very sorry you had to watch that, we were just very hurried to get into the Capital and my friend here is kind of impatient."

"I am your damn leader, not a wimsy glitter friend of yours, angelface!" Bakugou wanted to bite those words back because 1), they were partially untrue and 2), because it had been too long since he had called her like that. Since she didn't seem to notice his words very much – she was too busy petting the kids' heads and being just too fucking kind for her own well being – he didn't speak his thoughts out.

"We didn't mean to annoy him, we're sorry for that, miss!" spoke one of the girls, looking at Uraraka while the other was comforted by Yaoyorozu and Bakugou's piercing glare. "It was just that we were given permission to wander a bit around– and we couldn't help but be attracted to such booming voice!"

Bakugou was on their toes again. "And what the fuck is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"So when we saw this man facing the guards, we were in awe. We had never seen such magnificent free displayal of power in our whole lives!"

That made the brunette turn around knowingly, already feeling the man's ego inflate from the way his breath had somewhat hitched, all under what he had previously called _midgets_. When he found his heart, his words on it were tiny. "...ne?" however, he quickly recovered from the mild shock and rasped out a little growl. "Whatever, no new information. I am a damn powerhouse."

" _Bragger_." mumbled Uraraka under her breath, expecting Bakugou to actually not hear her. In fact, she had actually expected him to laugh at her or something, not slap her nape again with that nasty habit he was gaining lately. She was torn between considering it a friendly gesture or an abuse of his power. "Meanie."

"Sassy." responded he with a frown of his own, looking down at her crouched form, hands on his waist. The gesture looked awkwardly powerful from him. "Anyway, what do you two even want from us? We don't have any sweets, we ain't damn parents."

"That's not it!" exclaimed the girl by Yaoyorozu's side, who leaped to stand before Uraraka. The knight walked to the group as well, crouching to have a better eye level with the girls, armor clanking with every one of her movements. "For your information, attacking royal guards is illegal and you could be put into prison for what you just did!"

That earned the leader a judging, pointed look from his peers, making him emit a little scoff. "Please, not like we had other option than to do that." that did the trick and them looking at the girls again, but his mind wasn't at ease knowing those girls were such cunning midgets. "Are you gonna blackmail us with that or something? We could pretty much be mercenaries and kidnap you."

Uraraka only jumped up to smack him on the neck with twice the force necessary. His head bobbed forward with a hissed groan. "What the hell, Bakugou! Don't scare them! How can you even suggest such stupidity?"

"He is right, though..." Yaoyorozu tilted her head to a side, and the girls did the same, as if actually trusting them had been a wise idea. Now that Uraraka saw it with more time, it _had_ been a reckless move, and Bakugou had had to suffer her wrath for her to realize that– again, he was no stupid man. She sheepishly grinned up to him with a little apology, to which he frowned in disgust and mental exhaustion. "You shouldn't trust strangers so easily."

One of the girls, one with caramel long hair, grinned and pointed at herself. "I have a special ability called _Short Read_. I can read someone's thoughts in a span of 60 minutes, I just need to be close enough." she then pointed to the other girl with her thumb, smiling some more as Uraraka's mouth opened agape. "My sister can create weapons with her skin! They bleed out of her skin if she knows what the material is. However, she will get ugly bruises if she uses too much of it."

In cue, the girl with shorter hair let her skin melt into the shape of a knife Uraraka had seen Kirishima handle during trainings during the ban. "Impressive! So I take it you read our thoughts and deemed us to be harmless?"

This obviously irritated Bakugou to no end, but Yaoyorozu jabbed him on his spleen to make him shut his mouth. It didn't work. "We aren't any kind of softies, I just wiped out a damn army of soldiers, for fuck's sake."

"That's not the point here! We do know you aren't weaklings, that's why we need you!" answered weapon girl, stiffening at the stressed need that Bakugou was sneering at.

"So you two do wanna blackmail us."

"Not really." the girl with longer hair twined her hands behind her back, swinging on her toes innocently. "But it's possible that we would shut up about this incident if you guys helped our town with this teensy problem we have. Our father is working on the case but we need powerful people to help him out!"

The blonde's answer was quick and sharp like a razor blade. "We aren't fair puppets, girls. We have better stuff than deal with the Capital's problems, above all when they tried to ban us out of there."

But as the only way universe would have it lately, Uraraka was hell fast to face him– at this point in their story, he was by no means surprised by this. "We can't test our luck that far, Bakugou."

He only crossed his arms, then closed his eyes in lukewarm contemplation, opening one when Yaoyorozu talked again.

"What is this problem we are talking about? We are in a pretty grand quest ourselves right now, and as my bold master put it, we don't have much time in our hands to spare." gently said the knight, her features as soft as silk. Uraraka had never seen so much sympathy in that woman's face, usually stern and focused on things by far more important than this. Uraraka blinked her eyes back to the pair of girls, silently agreeing with her mate's statement. Judging by his silence, Bakugou did as well. "But we could probably make some space for this if this isn't a big mission."

Yaoyorozu knew her schedules well, knew what she was talking about and always tried to keep her words in line with what her guild required. But this time, she knew they had no other option than to comply to these little girls. She was a proud woman, but there were times in which one had to bow to an intelligent move – which she hated, because RampAge was no issue to be dodging at the moment.

She watched the girls share a look, then sink into their shoulders. "Actually… it would be best if you went visit our dad at the offices in the Court. He is the head in the case and should actually be doing paperwork in his office."

Bakugou severed his frown a bit harder, the girl's shiny eyes boring into his like the fucking sun as suddenly – just what he fucking needed, the damn nail in the coffin – that damn sorcerer's eyes turned to his too, less hesitant and hoping and more pushy and impatient. That girl was too kind for his heart to handle. Not always in a bad way.

The blonde sighed. " _Fine_. But we will only accept this mission if our remaining guildmates agree to it. I ain't making such important decision with everyone's approval."

The thought readers clapped her hands briefly before grabbing Uraraka's long sleeve and dragging her along the bridge to the town, across a little stream surrounding the Capital. It should be a little branch of the river – if Yaoyorozu recalled correctly – and actual boats could row down them last time she visited this town. "Thanks a lot! our father will be so glad to hear this!"

The other girl dragged Yaoyorozu by her metal gauntlets, musing over the chilly texture of her armor and the little engravings on the metallic surface. There were little waves that looked rough after so many battles, and the fingers had little dents to them. It screamed toughness and strength, which weapon girl admired in silence.

The blonde skidded his boots against the cobblestone in restless vexation at the topic he had gotten himself into. "This is gonna be a damn nightmare."

* * *

"Sorry, but you are in the wrong department."

Bakugou slammed his hands onto the marble counter before him, shoulders rising in contained lit fuse. "What the fuck? How are we in the wrong depart–"

"Your question won't be answered here." answered the woman in glasses. "This is the _Help_ department. You must head to the _Conflict Resolution_ department if you are seeking our conflict chief. It's right at the other wing of the building, second department."

Yaoyorozu gently peeled Bakugou off the counter before he blew it up with his heating hands. "Thank you very much, miss."

Uraraka made a good work to distract the leader from his rising anger with her soft touch on his biceps, dragging him across the hallway of the building and pinching his skin so he would calm down. "Could you please behave for once? We are in the _Capital_ , not a barbarian bar."

He removed his arm from her strong hold, relishing on the newfound freedom and starting to hiss from the little marks she had left in there. "You don't get to give me an earful, Uraraka." the boy trudged onward to a safe distance from her, wiping his cape behind. "Where the hell do we–"

"West wing." sighed Yaoyorozu, crossed arms bouncing as she jogged a bit to make it to his side. "Also, you must have the talk with her someday, you–"

"I know." barked the blonde at her unceremoniously, taken so out of context to others that some people turned to look at him, Uraraka included. This was what somewhat troubled him the most and he didn't have no fucking clue as to why. "Let's get this out of the fucking way first."

It took them little time to reach the next department under his hurried pace, full of impatience and utter anger at what he could tell was gonna be another dismissal. Still, as a responsible member of the guild, he found necessity in keeping his cool and trying to act calmly, composed, collected, under control. There was no way he'd prove right everyone who thought of him as a barbarian. Well, he enjoyed the comparison. But not in _that_ way.

He stomped over to the next marble table. A little golden plaque read the place he was looking for. The man behind the desk, however, didn't pay much attention to him, not even a glance. And Bakugou was _hard_ to not notice. "Hey, excuse us! We need to go see–"

This got his attention, taking shape as a sleek sideways glance. "Are you guys visitors?"

Uraraka stepped out this time when the blonde opened his mouth a little too much. She tiptoed to put her elbows on the marble surface, eliciting a curious yet softened eye from the leader, who looked to another direction as Yaoyorozu looked at him, eyebrow arched. "We were meaning to visit an authority in the Capital called Gun…"

" _Gunhead_." filled in Yaoyorozu, stepping to the desk as well. It was a pretty tall desk, and seeing her companions reach it perfectly made her feel too small. Uraraka propped herself a bit higher, her soles scraping the tile floor. She could very well make herself float, but that would be even stupider. "The secretary at the _Help_ department redirected us to your department, so we were wondering if we could arrange a meeting with him."

All they received was an asshole worthy glance of total boredom. Bakugou already hated this guy and he hadn't even met him properly. Uraraka would be willing to have a drink with him, give him a chance. Yaoyorozu was having her doubts. That was how things were until he went back to his book and flung his feet over a stool. "You guys are in the wrong–"

Bakugou banged the desk with his fist, making various items jump and shake, some others fall off the table. That guy had a fetish with banging stuff when he was angry. "The wrong fucking department again." he retrieved his hand from the cracked surface with a huff. Uraraka's face clearly gave away that all drinks she'd be sharing with him would be a shot of poison. "Where do we have to go so someone can actually listen to us?"

The receptionist ignored the clear insult. "Fourth department in the second floor, _Administration and Patrolling_."

"Fucking awesome." reprimanded or… answered Bakugou, his head turning to the direction of dreadful stairs waiting for them. He gave the marble desk another tempted smack before leaving in the other direction.

Uraraka detached herself from the cold marble desk to see Yaoyorozu tugging a pretty pissed Bakugou from the failed mission that was bureaucracy, the leader muttering curses that no sensitive audience should be able to hear. As if to make the point even clearer, the knight looked back to Uraraka catching up with them. "He hates paperwork like this."

The brunette sighed with closed eyes, stepping faster towards the staircase. "Tell me about it."

The two women followed the grumpy leader with pressured walks up the stairs, crestfallen expressions crowning their faces. Uraraka busied herself by looking at the surroundings and out the massive windows that ran all along the egg-shell color walls. The day outside was clear, sun filtering between some measly clouds and streaming into little markets on the plaza below. It was so strange to be in such a posh, tiled and golden building while seeing such dirty scenery outside.

She sometimes wondered if the snotty people in the facility noticed the little daily disgraces from those people, selling their only food to eventually feed hungry children. The city itself was prosperous, it showed to the naked eye– there was no sign of poverty as Uraraka or basically anyone would have expected, but as she went up the charcoal stairs, all she could do was wonder what would have happened is she was one of those sellers outside.

The moment Uraraka touched the tiles of the second floor, a little ripple of nausea hit her. It hadn't come to her that her legs were a little bit strained from their walk to the Capital, and the pain was starting to flourish now, when she needed her limbs the most. The brunette gritted her teeth, staring at the leader's back, and decided she wasn't going to be a softie now. Not when he could let all his hopes fall down the moment she showed any weaknesses.

"Damn it." muttered she, supporting her weight on the staircase bar. Her feet almost crashed with the white vase of a little tree, but the sorcerer was quick to save the fall. Yaoyorozu noticed this slip, yet didn't mention it and just noted it down, frowning in decision. Vibrant images of her night with Bakugou swung in front of her eyes as she stared at his back, thoughtful.

His shoulders held no shake to their movement, or no ripple to his usually demanding behavior. He was angry as hell now, but remarkably calm as a leader like him should be. Pretty strange. Yaoyorozu knew there was something wrong, something he wasn't showing. Bakugou could act all stoic he wanted at the end of the day, there would always be someone to decipher him. Not because she was close to him, but because they had worked together for long now.

She sighed, feeling Uraraka stagger her way to her side. Yaoyorozu addressed her presence with a secret peek at her disheveled state. _"You better do something, Bakugou."_ her eyes shifted to see the blonde banging the desk again. _"Or we'll have her as a terrorist again. And we don't like being fooled."_

The red eyed foul boy was at the verge of screaming rageful words at the receptionist again, but he got himself together and pulled a hand to his waist, tapping the loops of his pants for some patience. Uraraka deeply appreciated that, and wished he'd do that in a usual basis. "We are here to fix a meeting with your chief, Gunhead. His two br–" for the second time that day, Uraraka smacked him on the head, earning her a hateful glare from him, hissing as he rubbed on the sore spot. "his two _daughters_ came to us and offered a meeting with him for some issue on the Capital's criminal activities."

Yaoyorozu tilted to meet Uraraka's ear, not lifting her eyes from the receptionist as he, yet again, probably dismissed them. "For your information, it's a pretty good sign to see him actually not throwing an immediate fit over you hitting him, but you can't overdo it that much."

The brunette blinked up to her in silence. Then, her eyes moved to Bakugou's agitated back while yelling at another receptionist. "Well, I'm just trying to stand my ground against him, he does it too often anyway. It's no crime." there were two beats of silence in which all Uraraka did was observe him from afar, feeling how despite being a meter away, they were a galaxies away. After the other day's row, there was no doubt they'd have to talk it out soon. She smiled regardless, like she always did despite the situation. "Besides, he's starting to change some."

Surprised, the knight crossed her arms again and looked at him, skeptical. "He may be warming up to you, but he's still a major pain, sometimes."

Which was true. Bakugou remained unchanged to the public eye, also to hers in most parts of his personality – yet, she enjoyed telling herself he was changed. He was at least not trying to kill her or actively kick her out of his life, which was a pretty solid step in the right direction. However, there was always this clank to his armor that seemed unbreakable, and it sometimes looked like no matter how much she tried to do for him, he'd never understand the reason why.

Indeed, he had saved her life – and woes betide from her not being thankful, but there was something deeper to his disdain to her that she would never make out, or even reach out for. Something would always prevent him from taking a big step and seeing her actions as something good, not something _he didn't need_ or things _he never asked for_. His mind hadn't learned the idea of people caring for him because he hadn't cared about anyone beyond personal levels like she did all the time.

They were awfully mismatched, and this was a fact. She would always make the stars spin around him if that would make him smile, unconditional devotion for making people happy never dimming no matter the situation and just wanting him to see her, to witness her true power, to just _notice_ her in a big crowd of madness and greediness, see her purity and her existence.

Her mind was like a satellite around his actions lately, wrapped up in analysing all his steps to her, all the words he said, all his gestures, how warm he was, and how deeply she cared for him that is was tragic that he would never see her, that no matter how much she fought for him, he'd never notice her.

Uraraka could very well make the world stop for him, make planets fall or stars burn; Bakugou would never bother discover her, would never bother be anything else than her boss, just see that she cared so much it hurt, sometimes, to be rejected. She could fake as much as she wanted and tell him it was fine– to be fair, it _used_ to be fine to her, to care and never be cared for, but she wanted him to grow out of his solace shell at the top of his ego mountain and she felt like one of the very few who could help him.

He was a part of him while she was not even invited to his life. It made her wonder why she was so adamant on him on the first place.

"Whatever, we ain't gonna find our stuff here, either." again, Bakugou slammed a steaming hand against the counter, his cool fuse completely blown. "Thanks for the help, fuckstick."

The man saluted them a farewell while the girls strutted by the leader's side. Yaoyorozu was the first one to say something that should have been stated before that madness started. "We aren't making any progress here, Bakugou."

"Damn me before I give up to these fucker's halfassed system of passing their clients around like dolls. Not gonna put up with that crap." cut Bakugou with his usual sharper, but this time it was hoarser and more tired than anything. His anger came and went like the wind. Frightening much. When Bakugou splurted more curses than actual words, he was to be feared. "Nothing new to me."

As they let Bakugou guide them around the floor, both members noticed that Uraraka was awfully silent for her cheery self, a little tidbit that only Yaoyorozu voiced out, voice laced with her usual concern, yet less stern than usual. "Tired much, Uraraka?"

At this, she snapped out of her reverie, meeting her eyes with a gasp. "Hm?" Bakugou turned his eyes a bit to catch her reaction, a little frown knitting his features. Her grin afterwards was cringe-worthy. "Ah, yeah! It's been a pretty hard journey this far, I can't wait to hit the mattress!"

But Bakugou was inadvertently wise to his beastly nature. He knew all his peers' expressions as if they were his own, and he had seen Uraraka pain too many times for him to admit without shuddering, because he had caused in most occasions. He had seen from the very beginning that she was tired as fuck– more than him and that was an understatement, because he wouldn't be able to handle another set of stairs. This time though, while he wasn't good with deciphering individual emotions, he could easily see when someone was lying.

So yeah, Uraraka was tired, but not as tired to lose that little spark of hers he had never noticed until now, that it was gone. It seemed like, lately, all he could see was what life lacked, what she lacked when her good things disappeared. It was a detail that put him off for some reason.

Yaoyorozu turned to Uraraka fully, pointing at the offices behind them. Her eyes were kind like water, and her usual hard points were gone for the day. It was nice to see her be at ease with the sorcerer for a change. Everyone was slightly off to Uraraka, yet she couldn't say she wasn't enjoying it. "You can always head to search for the others while we sort this out on our own."

Sensing that something was indeed very wrong if Yaoyorozu was giving a free day so easily, Bakugou snapped, his muscles tensing and his body whipping to face the girls. "Hold up, who the fuck gave you permission to give her a free day?"

The knight looked back twice as hard as he was. Tired like Bakugou was feeling, he only swallowed his pride and crossed his arms at the victim of his hatred and general foul humor. "I'm most certainly not giving her a free day, because she has the right to rest just like we do. I understand that since she is a rookie she is still a bit beaten up, so she shouldn't be giving herself such a bad time. Right, Uraraka?"

That was clearly an indirect that felt out of place to Uraraka, but the fact that Bakugou and Yaoyorozu shared the same displeased expression, only varying in hues and wrinkles or scars made her feel chided on to a point that she recoiled from their dark oozing presence. She took a step back, then another two in a faster pace. She held her hands up. "Yes! I will go search for the rest, it's not like the Capital is _that_ big, right?"

"It's more crowded than anything." responded the other, tapping her chin in recollection. She had been to the town a few times with Todoroki and Tokoyami for information business, but she had never stopped to go sightseeing. There was little she could say about the Capital street-wise. "All streets are intricately connected among each other, and there is a residence near this building. There is also this cathedral somewhere around the walls."

Uraraka perked up at this. "Ah, you did say there was a cathedral here. Do you have any idea on where it is?"

Bakugou only raised an eyebrow, surprised to see her so interested on this kind of stuff. He would never bother to step into any religious building unless it was for a wedding – and he would have to think about it unless it was his own, and that scenario was more than unlikely, it was fucking impossible.

If the knight was surprised as well, she didn't show. "I think it's on the far northeast corner of the walls, but I could be wrong. From the data Tokoyami fed me with, not many people went there for congregation."

Uraraka wrinkled her nose at this, a grimace painted in her even features. "Such a shame, but I will pay it a visit and check. Todoroki had mentioned to me he needed to go there as soon as he got here, so it's worth checking."

"Go now before this place gets cramped." advised Yaoyorozu, knowing what she was doing when she started shoving Uraraka to the staircase down to the hallway. "We'll probably be here for a little while more, so if you get lost, come see us. I don't think we'll be allowed to enter Gunhead's office straight away even with his daughters' kudos."

"Yeah, that guy looks busy as fuck here." commented Bakugou out of nowhere. Uraraka noticed that judging by his undivided focus on his surroundings, he had been considering this for longer than usual. "I can't shake the thought there is something going on here."

Uraraka cocked her head to a side. Her frame bangs fell a bit, softly. "What do you mean?"

He snarled at her like usual, but didn't call her names like he had been avoiding to do all this time. It didn't make that little nagging, sinking feeling of ignorance fade a single bit. "I just can't fucking fathom that such an important institution like this would shake comrades off their hairs so easily. No one in our village does that and we ain't half as important as these guys here are."

Yaoyorozu looked at him in understanding, making Uraraka feel stupid for not noticing this point as something strange, and not a hindrance. She wasn't used to these kinds of protocol, and she probably would never be at this rate. The knight spoke with a tight tone this time, looking around warily as well. Some workers caught her glare and cowered some. "I know what you are talking about. It did strike me as weird to see them tossing us to each other. None of them looked that busy to not be able to treat us properly instead of dismissive."

The brunette was shocked to look around and prove this right with a tight intake of breath. Everyone around them was either talking to each other or reading, playing basketball with spare scrolls or just staring out their windows. Nobody excepting the office sportsmen seemed to be doing any regular paperwork, which put her in alert.

"It can't be they are this free of work with the illegal hunter business and RampAge on the loose," reasoned Uraraka, pensive as her surroundings blurred into a sole idea of oddity and dire disturbance. "I don't think Gunhead is low on work, too."

"His daughters seemed sharp as hell despite being midgets." answered Bakugou abnormally quiet, as to not let the workers know their clients were picking on their movements and odd behavior. "They haven't had soft education if they can use their abilities so well this early, so Gunhead must have trained hard as fuck with them."

Good reasoning – conceded Uraraka, frowning – but it wasn't enough to see through this weird situation. If Gunhead was sending off work as normal and the situation did call out for laziness from the workers, they must be the ones with a problem or a secret behind. How was the Capital working properly if their main organisation was so lax on attendance and work?

She felt out of place, and knew this wasn't their battle to meddle in. They would probably talk about this with Gunhead in given time when he received them in their office. At this rate though, it seemed like they would have to barge into his office themselves before somebody from the departments let them in with free access. If Bakugou was that right on Gunhead's meticulousness, then he'd be willing to listen to their requests.

She had never expected to face such political parts from life, so full of corruption, greed and darkness that her heart couldn't even wrap around the idea. The world was full of people and, therefore, full of intentions and purposes, yet she would never imagine that people had different mindsets to hers. It was egocentric and obnoxious, but people being touchy, greedy or ill-intended just screamed wrong to her in so many levels.

Though, she only had to look at Shinsou and see it usually depended more on philosophies and mindsets, not actual actions. This was a point that she often wondered if Bakugou understood, but it would be comprehensible if he was too blinded by competitiveness to see through the mask of a leader and see a person behind, no matter how hateful they were.

Uraraka shrugged a bit in her uniform, her eyes dancing on the hem of her dress before meeting Bakugou's unperplexed eyes. He was always like a wall and in this tense situation of being surrounded by uncertainty, he wouldn't change. So the girl swallowed all the pity she could, spit some for later relief and padded to the staircase. "Either way, I'll try to look for the others. They may be able to fill us in about this messy organization."

"Ask Tokoyami about it if you see him, he has specific information about geographical locations and views more than any of us, even than me or Midoriya." spoke Yaoyorozu, seeing the girl off with a serious, thoughtful façade to mask all the thoughts she was desiring to speak out. For the moment, she just observed Uraraka start padding out of view, glitter and pink enveloping her faked giddy aura.

Yaoyorozu could see Uraraka smile all she wanted, make her be happy all she wanted, but if one looked closer, deeper, something had faded out of place in her, ripping at the seams. And the image of the sorcerer walking away from the pair had never looked so disturbing before, when they could have killed each other if Uraraka had wanted to. In the end, it always came to her, didn't it?

Watching her slowly walk away, her uniform swinging with the breeze, Yaoyorozu had never felt so transfixed to alarm and ubiquity in her full life. Seeing Bakugou tense up so quickly made her realize that not only was she right on her theory, but that he was the one holding the seamripper.

* * *

The Capital was pretty, the Capital was beautiful but the Capital was crowded. As Uraraka treaded through the cobblestone, wide streets, people crowded her surroundings shouting various things to each other. Fruits would fall from carriers and sometimes explode into juices, sloshing on her feet. The girl hastily dodged a loaded carriage of supplies as the man ran with them for his damn life, another crossed streets right behind her and the girl found herself more stressed out than back in the Court.

Uraraka sighed to herself, busying her eyes with two tasks– actually, they were three: search for her comrades, look for a gear shop and find the cathedral. Two of those tasks were correlationed, but her need for new equipment was so desperate and obvious – some people were looking at her pretty weirdly at her scruffy clothing in such little body like hers – that Uraraka had pulled out some gold from her pockets and counted the little coins while looking for some shop to spend them in.

When she made sure that she had enough for at least a staff, she dug her coins and hands to the depths of her uniform, huffing as her soles scraped the wasted ground. From a side of the street, she heard busy talking and screaming. The brunette looked to her side warily. At the pier to the river, in one of the many ports of the town, a gruffy sailor was going on a row about something with a younger man.

Curious, Uraraka turned her head to their side, eyes impassive until she saw a little knife peeking from the sailor's pocket. That was when her walk stopped and her eyes widened a little, her step taking a leap and skipping to the gates of the pier, peeking from a side of the gate so she wouldn't be seen.

"This ain't the right fucking fish the boss asked for, asshole!" screamed the sailor heatedly, banging his fists around the air, aiming to hit the poor deliverer who only grimaced in fear. He was probably used to this treatment. "You all doing you only fucking job wrong has my business hitting rock bottom, get your shit together and do your damn job right!"

Uraraka shed a nervous smile, disbelieving the situation in front of her. The man was so pale one could use him as a harlequin. "Talk about a sailor mouth." mumbled the girl.

"We are so sorry, sir!" squirmed the lean man in utter fright. Judging by how his eyes darted to the man's hands, he was also aware of the fact that the man before him had a weapon with him. Such a brave thing to do to actually face someone so angry and armed.

The sailor grunted endless curses to himself and pulled out a disapproving scowl of pure disgust. In the meantime, Uraraka scanned her surroundings with a deepening scowl, muting the screams and blatant rage. The boxes by the sailor were wet and muddy despite the valuable objects it supposedly carried with it, thawed at some sides. If the boxes held fish or any kind of alive being, they weren't making any noise to prove so.

Uraraka searched around the area with her eyes. From the sneaky – not so sneaky – place she was in there was not much room for investigation, but she could see enough. The little boat in which the sailor had come was kind of old, had nets on a side and more boxes on the other. The waves rocked the boat on the stream, and something came to her mind the moment a wave rocked it too hard.

"Fish selling… in the middle of the river?" wondered Uraraka, well aware of the people passing behind her but murmuring to herself nonetheless. She brought her fingers to her lips, eyeing the situation – how is it logical that the Capital was buying fish from external business when they had a damn river on their barriers? Was this part of the region lacking fish population in this segment of the river?

However, when Uraraka had fallen to the streams back at the fight with Midnight – she would have to address it to Gunhead later and have to go through the feelings of being swallowed and weighted down again, such vivid images imprinted in her mind – the water had been swarmed with fishes, some of them smaller, some of them bigger, some colorful, others not. She hadn't been able to discern typologies and species, but some had nibbled her fingers and it was enough proof.

So the point still stood. The duel against Midnight had taken place only a pair of miles away from the Capital, maybe some more. Then, why was this place actually buying fish instead of employing that sailor to reel some in?

This and the odd behavior at the Court from the workers there only sparked more interest towards this place's intricate mysteries. But that was a story for another time. Right now, Uraraka had to pile that thought to the endless little notes in her head and focus on her current goal. If this man was so keen on his surroundings like he was preaching to be, perhaps he had seen either her comrades or the cathedral. He didn't seem to belong to a fighting profession, so asking for a shop would be useless.

Uraraka shyly stepped out from the gate's wall and approached the sailor as the deliverer hurried out of scene. The sailor was putting some nets in a box and opening some to see the product they had given him. Apparently, some boxes were pure trash as the man recoiled from them, and when Uraraka reached him he was emptying one of them on the river.

"Excuse me, sir?" called the sorcerer in the most neutral voice she could muster, earning a yelp from the busy man. His eyes were all but kind to her when he turned around. "I was wondering if you knew where the local cathedral is. I am no–"

"Who the fuck cares, shitty girl?" yelled the sailor, spit bubbling from his foul mouth. Uraraka, while no member of nobility, wanted to step away. "I am damn busy with my own stuff myself, don't dare try to woo me into your business!"

His talking and rash behavior screamed _Bakugou_ all over the place and she didn't know how to take this information, because she somewhat out up with Bakugou and was enticed by him, yet all she wanted to do now was leave this man despite having the very same features as him. Still, she didn't let first impressions get the best of her, and urged a bit further.

"I just need a pair of indications, I must meet some friends there a-and…"

"Again, just fuck off already, don't you see I'm busy here? Can't take a hint it seems." grumbled the man as he tied some nets to the boxes, jotting down a pair of lines on a paper while eyeing her ever so often. She didn't seem like she was gonna move anytime soon. "What the fuck?"

"I just need some information, sir."

"Who the fuck said I'd give it to you in the first place?"

Yep, this was why this man wasn't like Bakugou now that she saw more depth to him. Bakugou would have barked at her at first, maybe the second time as well, but he would have actually given her clues, or been stubbornly useful through anger and ire. It was who Bakugou was, and while their language was the same and them both screamed violence, this man was by far simpler than her leader. Knowing such deep analysis about her blonde leader made her suddenly question why she was so adamant on trying to make a difference.

It was… disturbing. But Uraraka shook it off and went on, her feelings feeling a bit shaken up after that. "I was just hoping you would. Everyone seems so busy here and all, I don't mean to disturb you with giving me directions."

He pulled up an adamant scowl, yet seemed to accept her apology despite this being very much silly. "Your sole voice is disturbing me."

"Sorry. Either way," she shoved her hands to her pockets and tried to ignore his blazing eyes burning on her. "I was also searching for my friends here. They are a big crowd, one of them has green hair and–"

"I saw several greenie boys around here. One of them came on a boat."

"No, they didn't–"

"The others came to ask for fishes. One of them actually searched a residence to stay." answered he. "I didn't fucking give them the directions but he didn't look stupid. I bet he found his way around the town."

"That must be Midoriya then!" exclaimed Uraraka, her eyes brightening again and even the sailor had to admit it was a rather good sight, to see such a lost girl smile over such a stupid thing. Look at her. That beaming smile could light up a room. "Thank you very much, sir!"

Instead of thinking of his life choices and stopping to see that a simple answer put nicely like this could do actual good, the sailor went back to his business of not giving a fuck, and continued making the inventory for his deliveries. He waved her off with his hand. "Fuck off already. I have stuff to do."

Nodding in gratefulness, Uraraka already knew where to go. The Court building was surrounded by very few big buildings itself, opting to have minor business around to promote them. And she knew that her comrades wouldn't be looking for _fish_ out of all things, and considering that the residence Yaoyorozu told her about was nearby… yes! Uraraka cheered in giddiness while sinking into the mad crowd again, yet somehow this didn't bother her.

"I must go see the others and ask for medicine for sore limbs and search for a shop. Todoroki must know about the cathedral." rambled Uraraka to her neck, walking aimlessly in the middle of the wide street. She counted sub-tasks with her fingers. "Also, i should get some food too–"

Suddenly, a deaf echoed pain smashed her on the neck, feeling a sudden glare stare at her through the mad crowd that swarm around her. That familiar cold sweat coated her in fear and chills like that first time at the local fair– but this time, trained to be fast, Uraraka didn't budge. The girl turned around, her clothes flailing with the sudden wiping move and searched for her prosecutor.

A dark, cloaked figure stood in the midst of the shadowed people, the hoodie washing over her grim face like an eternal veil– and the whole world stopped spinning, she stopped beating, because for a reason this presence just evoked chaos and utter confusion in her. She just didn't understand who this was, why she was there, but all it did above all was grant her a feeling of fear, make her feel horrified at the sight and widen her eyes, take in the image and drink from it like a pure psychopath.

Hands cold and trembling, she couldn't find words to say other than a strained gasp, whatever thoughts she had in mind poofing into thin air, stuck in odd parts of her body and creating a raspy knot that tightened, the clocks ticking as the wind blew, making waves rise up and make this figure stare, black spots boring into Uraraka's distanced ones, cold falling on her and numbing all senses, a thrill and shudder tickling up her spine. Gulping down and trying to make her hands snap so they'd feel, so they'd be alive, Uraraka took a crisp deep breath.

The moment Uraraka was able to take a step forward, the figure faded behind the passing people. And the more time that passed with her staring blankly at spot, the more she thought it had just been a mirage from exhaustion. Her mind was all over the place recently.

However, when the girl turned around, she had no clue as to where she was. That person's appearance had somehow made her lose track of location and all she knew was that she was surrounded by buildings, people and skies she didn't know. She could very well be dissociating or just randomly transported to another galaxy. Uraraka was, once again, lost in this forsaken town.

"Where…" Uraraka doubtingly whipped her head around a little bit, confused. She tried to read some letters on some shops, but couldn't recall having ever seen them. She could, again, very much be at the other street besides the main one, but seeing how the roofs were slightly lower than at the center of the town, she seemed to have mindlessly roam around and ended up there. "Where the hell am I now?"

Her feet stumbled a bit as she turned around in angles, hoping to find some sense of direction in this messy sketched map– to come to face a dominating façade, then columns, and suddenly, a beautiful rosette glass on top of the building. "The cathedral." breathed she. After the ominous structure had made its way to Uraraka's recognition, she again whipped around a few times to check no one had accidentally or purposefully warped her there. No one stood out from the crowd, so she considered herself to be good to go.

The girl ascended the stone steps to the big fat doors carefully, her soles relishing on the cold feel of the stone, and advanced until she was at the doors. Somehow, this felt like such a magnificent thing to do, after all she couldn't recall being in any cathedral before in her life… or all she could recall from it. Which was, like, only right before she met Yuuei.

The brunette stood before the mahogany, brown painted doors of the cathedral, and gave one of them a tentative push. The door opened with a deep creak, as if eager to reveal all secrets hidden in such sacred sanctuary. Uraraka looked inside from a little gap, and saw very dim lights illuminating the eerie interior. There was a purplish hue washing over some benches, spare people coming and going all in silence. The whole place seemed completely silent and, compared to the unstoppable rustle of people outside, it looked like a paradise.

The sorcerer quickly skipped in, as if this was a private meeting, and closed the door behind her. The heavy door closed with a fateful bang, making her spine tense and her feet jump. Had she been less aware of her surroundings and she would have snapped into anti-gravity by sheer nature, but of course she didn't let that happen. As time had gone by, Uraraka had become a bit more careful when it came to her powers, and her own ability itself. Hadn't she gotten some grip and Bakugou would have probably had her head… along everyone else, probably.

Uraraka stepped out of the entry and found herself surrounded in a bubble of silence, where even her sole thoughts seemed to make too much noise in such tranquil place. The praying benches were arranged properly in rows, red velvet covering them and, as she passed a finger around its wood on the back, someone liked them clean. The carpet beneath her feet was tainted in crimson red, running to the altar at the front of the building, where she could make out the shape of a man.

The walls of the cathedral were dimly illuminated in violet lights from a great rosette on top of the altar, shedding life to the dead corridor between benches through which Uraraka walked wordlessly. She should feel like she was attending a wedding and she was the bride, yet felt like a corpse being delivered to the reaper.

There was a little atrium with candles lit up for some kind of rithual that had been held short ago – or was probably going to be held. Again, Uraraka wasn't sure at all – and there was nobody but a man standing there, looking at them as if they held the many secrets of the universe that Uraraka couldn't know herself, yet this man probably knew by now. The closer Uraraka got, the dreaded this man looked, standing still as if he wasn't even breathing. A part of Uraraka feared that he would shatter with her sole touch.

The girl approached the little stand of candles and entwined her hands in a little prayer, intending to be respectful. "Prayers."

The man to her right smoothly craned his head to look at her. It was then when Uraraka saw that this man had incredibly long hair, all clothed in leather and sporting deep, rosy bags under his dead eyes, unblinking. It was as if this man was alive, yet was walking in a dead corpse of flesh, yet had no heart or compassion behind those black eyes of his.

He regarded her briefly, then turned to the candles again. The girl turned again, but frowned slightly at the sight of a sandy scarf cuddling on his neck. She could swear she had seen it before, in the middle of a cloudy, foggy and cold evening, just like the surroundings of this man which were freezing her skin cold, singing her heart in dread because–

The girl gasped sharply, and realized who this man was. Her shoulders shrunk a little, yet stood as high as possible to make quick work of this unexpected encounter. Her hands were clasped at her front, and her breaths, uneven and chaotic. This scruffy man made her feel uneasy. This man, carrying the words of death and premonition to his very surroundings– he made her feel scared, small but somehow… there was this feeling again, of reminiscence that hadn't come to her before in their meeting at the mountains.

This man… she had seen him before. Before this moment, before their meeting in the fog, before her even being born. Planets aligned, the sun shone in the middle of the clouds, and he spoke gently, albeit deadpanned. "These candles are for somebody I used to know."

Feeling forced to fall into sync with his tragedy, Uraraka hurried to answer. She was shaken with doubt on whether to regard him as an acquaintance or a total stranger, because she wasn't sure if he remembered her to start with. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"It wasn't _my_ loss." stated the man. Something in his tone made her think she should know who he was talking about and why things were like these, why his situation was such gloomy mess, yet she couldn't follow that thread, and complied to her inner wishes. She remained silent, expecting him to go on. At this, the man sighed. "It was the world's loss."

At this, the girl didn't give much of a reaction despite the man seemingly interested in that aspect. She only undid her praying hands and fisted the fabric of her pockets' insides. There was no grimace in ehr face, no twist like he had seen her do so many times before, and this woman couldn't be Uraraka – he thought, breathing deeply, yet gave no signs of early alarm. Still Uraraka couldn't help but ask, peeking at him from half-lidded eyes.

"The world's?" wondered the brunette. The flames flickered for a second, knocking the girl into a short trail of thought that went off-rails when one of the candles died, prompting her to look at him more directly, turning her head a bit. "Was this person that important?"

"I thought you'd know, Uraraka." his tone was so chiding and somehow cold that a startled shudder ran down her spine. Her name fell off so easily from his name, as if he had repeated it so many times, and his stance was filled to the brim with familiarity. Her body fell backwards, broke glass and floated down into a realm of darkness. A nebulosa of pure uncertainty was bubbling inside of her and echoing to her head, making her feel all sorts of feelings– none of them good.

Invisible wind blew on the strands of a long forgotten girl, lost to the rain in the middle of a war, and then there was her, dancing across centuries like a shooting star. In the middle of a sea of tragedies and incognitas, the girl screamed for the world to show her. "You remember me, I see, despite dismissing me."

The scruffy man let out a little hmph. It wasn't arrogant like Bakugou's, giddy and humorous like Kirishima, or thoughtful like Todoroki's. It was different in all aspects and it terrified her to face such an unknown, unmoving force. Now, it seemed like no matter how much of an unstoppable force she was, he was an unmovable object no matter the universe or time. And she had this feeling she had known this too, before.

"It seems ironic. After all, in such a chaotic world like this, destined to burn at the hands of an unfair destiny, everyone forgets everyone, lost in their goals and tangled fates." spoke he wisely, making Uraraka crane her head to him again, her brow knit again in confusion. It wasn't the wording that confused her, so embroiled and mysterious, but the meaning behind it. "I am somehow able to remember everyone, every face, every body that comes to me. Yet, the world doesn't seem to remember a fading footprint on its ground."

Another candle was blown to dust. Uraraka knew she had no comebacks to offer. What could she do? Should she confort him? His voice sounded undeniably miserably, yet what kind of relief could a mere girl like her offer? She was no more than another face to him, another face to everyone. In the end, she was nothing special, and aiming to be so didn't help the situation. Uraraka just drew a hand out, touching her heart with a feeling resonating with him.

Yet, something was holding her back from saying it, and she frowned even deeper because this wasn't like her, to hold immediate thoughts in. Her eyes were fixated on the flickering candles again. Her body was made of the same chemicals as everyone, could breathe, get sunburns and blister like a slave of her life– yet felt like this man knew better than her about herself, looking at her so deeply and speaking so fondly of such a tragedy.

"S-Sir, I don't…"

"I know the _feeling_." muttered he. His eyes met the same candles again, closing his eyes briefly to taste how the words would roll out and probably crash her alive. He could hear her blinking at him in confusion. "I have been in this world for ages, from times on end, watching seasons pass. I know every palm of this plane, know every angle of every street, I know who passes through the gates, know every wind. Yet… this world doesn't know me, doesn't _notice_ me." at this specific wording, Uraraka's breath hitched. "Unfair, isn't it?"

The brunette took a step back, the feeling of fright and dread drenching her whole body in a thick cover of disbelief, seeing him stare at her without mercy, hands to his pockets as if he hadn't said one of the most disturbing facts in history. Her brows were knit, lips parted as if gaping to find words that were lost and scattered to every corner of her being– because she knew the feeling, _that_ feeling of loneliness and misunderstanding. Thoughtful, Uraraka turned to the altar, her eyes reflecting the purple sparkles from the rosette above their heads.

"I have been in this world for far longer than you will ever realize. yet from all times I have ever seen you…" feeling even more uncomfortable by this indirect stalking or this– this premonition shit he had going on, the girl turned to look at him with a grimace of disdain. "you have never looked as raw as you do now."

She grit her teeth in frustration and let her meek, polite mask fall off and clatter on the ground. "I am sorry to say you don't know me, you will never know my feelings or–"

"Excepting that I _do_ , because I know you, Uraraka." interrupted he, slaying her voice like butter on a heated knife. She found herself shutting up too easy, even waiting him to speak so she could see where the path led to. "I know what it feels to have unilateral feelings for someone, to chase after the sun's shadow, to be unnoticed by those who you fight so much for. I know what is like to have a blindfold and discover the truth too late."

Uraraka shook her head adamantly, her hands drawn to fists as her head bobbed violently from side to side. "Truth? What truth are you even talking about? What is _this_ you all are trying to solve, what is the reason for such fight or–"

"That's not a question for me to answer, but for you to discover." answered the black-haired man with a huff, not sparing a glance in her direction. Her eyes blinked at him, feeling again slain by his words and just overpowered by him in such a way that it was as if his heart was looming over hers and cornering it into mild abuse. "If you want to discovers answers, you must do it on your own. No one will give you the answer you are looking for but _yourself_."

And something echoed deep into Uraraka, because this was the first time she had felt satisfied with an actual response in her life. It was like a rush of adrenalin teasing her to havoc her mind, driving her crazy with the mere thought of being shown what it meant to be alive, what her whole existence meant and what was the solution to the problem that loomed above, under and in front of her, but never meant to be left behind.

She felt so… giddy, in the middle of an eerie place with a scary man with piercing eyes that it felt wrong. And she didn't want to believe that this man had the truth when her guildmates were perfectly capable people. Still...

"My...self?" she echoed his words with uncanny care. It was painful for the man to believe she was so hopeless and clueless on how big the problem was to everyone, to him, to her. But things could change. Meanwhile, it pained her to not believe him, in such weak state of the heart. "I can't see the sense in your words, I'm afraid."

"Not like I expected you to, anyway." the man shared an intimate, voidless look with her sparkling, determined eyes– because she had never been put in this situation, of being faced with such a hard place of either kneeling down to a set of beliefs and rules that were safe, that would make everyone happy, or find a way out. But why would she even want to not believe her comrades? That was bullshit, and for now, she had no reason to not trust them with her heart.

So she refused, took a step back with her hand on her chest. She had made an oath to stay, to protect, to save and to change. What this man was offering, was insinuating… it was just preposterous! "I have no intention to bend to the likes of you, sir. I am not some manageable girl you can play with."

"That's fine by me." muttered he again, as if he didn't care, but his words had held so much richness and impetuous tint to them that it was impossible to not see through his true intentions. Still, he held his impassive pose, and reached down for a dusty book nearby. "You can be as stubborn as you want, but I have seen you before. You will end up realizing the truth."

The elder handed her the book with strong yet reluctant grip. Uraraka took the thick, black volume with both hands. "What's this?"

"A book." answered he,as if this was the most obvious thing in the world– well, it _was_ , but she couldn't understand what this could do for her. "A book on good, decent spells, not like the ones you are taught in Yuuei. Bakugou wouldn't want you to stand so idle, knowing that boy."

Uraraka blinked at the man, then down at the book. Ancient glyphs were engraved on the tough cover, some dust left on the sides of the volume that she swatted off with a hand. She then realized how lengthy and heavy this book was, pages lacquered in golden hues and written in handwritten lines that looked like poetry, yet spelled out dangerous, vibrant spells of probably forbidden magnitude.

Seeing her so hellbent on devouring the book so soon, he allowed himself to shed a little smile of pride and turn to his back, stepping down the aisle Uraraka had walked a few minutes ago. When Uraraka felt him leave, she sharply turned to look at him from a bit afar, her little voice filling the whole cathedral brokenly.

"I don't understand why dismiss me to then give me all these explanations or whatever, and this book– what is it even for?" her message reached across dimly, but reached him cleanly, striking on the bull's eye like a moth to a flame. Her uniform flipped with her movements, making her feel brave, alive, yet so confused and lost. She didn't need answers now, answers she was second-handedly searching for, but _craved_ them. "I do not intend to–"

"I know what the feeling is, to be forgotten, looked down on, mistreated, and not noticed." broke he, voice smooth like silk but dreary and flawless, as if he wasn't making much effort to speaking such atrocities and mad thoughts. What was he talking about? Uraraka waited. "Feeling alone, feeling clueless. I want to fix the world, but no one seems to care but me. Shameful much, isn't it?"

And there he went again, with this business as if he knew her, her circumstances and just whatever was going through her mind– but it was impossible he knew, impossible he could see through her so easily when all they had had was an almost meeting and this… whatever this was. Her eyes searched for his around his head, volume hugged to her chest in a comfortingly familiar manner while her hand reached out to him. Yet, there was this moment when she reached for the ribbon, and for once in her entire life, it seemed like her fingers could grasp the thread and tug at it. This man was _responding to her_.

Her breath was stuck in her chest, feet deep in concrete and wings sprouting to make her fly– yet she felt useless, because she couldn't believe this man, couldn't even look at him without feeling indecent, like a witch being hunted to thrive in the flames. Woes betide she got herself a solution, tried to go against the currents again, and darkness drew in a little closer, hugging her from behind and making her remember she wasn't alone in the light kingdom.

"You were the one to reach out for me, I answer. Simple, right?" spoke he, turning again. So much for total closure. "One day, you will know what to do, what to say and how to decide. I'll be waiting for you, Uraraka."

And with that the man of the sand scarf left, leaving a trail of dust at his wake and a broken, puzzled magician behind with the book of hell in her hands, whispering sweet devils in a sacred cathedral.

* * *

 **[A/N]** : this is the RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT


	5. C ha pt eȑ 1

**[A/N]:** Did someone SAY UPDATE? wait no one did oops ok bye. So again sorry for the delay but uni has my ass real bad and I totally cannot do stuff properly so I should get back on track soon? I don't know, I totally hope so and this chapter, for its improtance, should have been written better tbh, BUT WHATEVR YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MMEANT VOILA. 

* * *

"Excuse me, how much gold did you say?"

The lady behind the counter frowned at her with a excruciating look that wouldn't have anyone leaving disappointed, yet the brunette found herself being pissed beyond recognition, hands balled into fists and an unkeen expression of vexation written all over her face. "I don't think that petty sack will do, girly."

At this, Uraraka had no other option but to frown and sigh at the little amount of gold she had left. After a wild night of roaming around the streets of the Capital, curing her bruises and doing some very needed mild exploring, the girl had mindlessly made her way into this little shop to do some very needed shopping the following morning. And the next morning, and the next one too, to the point that they had been staying at the Capital for almost a week now and Uraraka would come to the very same spot, every same hour, to wait for a good enough staff to buy.

Their reason for their stay was both infuriating and stressful. The moment Uraraka entered their residence and found the whole guild reunited – the mysterious book had been hidden under her uniform until she could decipher its meaning – and saw the frown adorning everyone's faces, she knew something had happened, or rather, something hadn't happened.

Yaoyorozu was the first one to step up and face the facts. "We filled out some papers to request a meeting with Gunhead, but it looks like there is this massive–"

"This massive shitty bureaucracy that won't let a full-fledged guild request a meeting with somebody of importance." had grunted Bakugou, sitting criss-cross on a posh chair that looked damn ancient, but he didn't seem to have much respect for it. He surely made a terrible human being. "We are supposedly buried in a big ass queue of some sorts. And we got no damn clue as to when we will get to the end of it."

Midoriya had looked understanding, yet irritation crossed his features briefly before facing Uraraka. "This is a usual process in minor communities, but seeing such important region be clogged up in requests doesn't put me at ease." mumbled the boy, a hand to his chin and drifting his eyes to the floor, unfocused. "Such wealthy and valuable organisation should work like a clock, but it seems rusted over. I don't want to know how buried in dirt these guys are if it looks so shady, I just can't–"

After that, Uraraka had decided to ignore him, and judging by everyone's bored and inattentive expressions at the troubled leader, there had been no way to save him. Jack had sighed, sitting by the leader, and had looked at Uraraka with the usual dead look that always gave her creeps in more than one way. "Bakugou told us about it all, more like raged over it."

Instead of expressing himself with the usual brashness expected of him, he had just plastered this bored, tired face on and craned his head to her. "Don't fucking expect me to be happy about being ignored."

The brunette had unconsciously hugged the book closer to her chest from underneath her cloak, and closed her eyes in silent ponderation. Her hands twitched to mess with her hair again, but that would let the book fall to the floor and she knew better than to show it to the world so soon. Instead, she had rocked a bit on her toes, and let her imagination flow into the image of secretaries conspiring against them while they stood on the very same hallway, and ominous eyes peering over them. It sent a shudder down her spine and there was no happiness in how everyone noticed her distress.

Before being asked, the girl had vigorously rushed to answer. "It is disturbing that administration here is slow, but I don't know. It's possible that RampAge is doing more damage to this town than we see."

At her meek words, Midoriya had snapped out of his ramble and looked at her. "Did you see anything?"

Her eyes had sparkled somewhat, having, for once something to answer with. "As I walked to the cathedral in town, I somehow warped to the street right in front of it, but I am plenty sure I was at least two avenues away judging by the paviment change and that the buildings were different in size." because Uraraka was no fool, and she had memorised the path back to the residence in case she ever needed some solace. "I wanna think that that's what it was and there was no actual person purposefully aiming at me to confuse me."

Bakugou's eyes had rolled back into a groan, and this was the first time she found herself affected by such gesture. "For fuck's sake, now there's scum trying shit against my people?" her eyes had widened a little, but he hadn't seen that. "Whatever. We gotta wait for the queue to be finished and go on with our lives. I seriously hope this doesn't drag for longer because I ain't messing with such an important issue."

She had wished for some reality knocking at her door because really, she shouldn't have read into his reaction that much, but the fact that he somehow hadn't flipped the table and insulted her for, who knows, being so self-centered to think someone was after her, or probably be paranoid on stuff? it felt nice. No, scratch that, it had felt pleasing that he not only hadn't insulted her, but had actually included her in his group of people.

After some chitchatting, she had excused herself to bed and left both the book and her thoughts rest for the night – she didn't know the danger that loomed over her with both notions staying in the same room, but reason would come to tackle her soon enough.

For said reason the girl was desperately searching for a new weapon. The fact that the Capital was so shaken with a foe like RampAge made her jump into action and start requiping herself to be on par with her peers, and this was the day in which Uraraka found a scepter to her liking, shape and prowess.

A part of her felt kind of intimidated by the powerful vibe of the weapon, yet after chewing over it for some time, she decided to barge into the shop and buy it.

But she didn't think about how much it costed, hence the current situation. She had been busy buying healing supplies to practice her alchemy lessons with Asui – there were not many good quality elements outside the walls, so the girl had suggested purchasing them for a change – and some new clothes, along with some studying supplies and new gloves for her to practice hand-on-hand combat.

She was flat broke.

Her shoulders deflated a notch and another sigh rolled off her lips, as those stressful memories were all but useful for the time being. She truly was all over the place today, and her hands started to fidget uncomfortably at the set of eyes on her, waiting for an answer.

Uraraka blinked once, twice, and started pulling her fists up and down in a fussed plea. Her eyes darted from the precious scepter to the attendant. "I may have some goods to sell! I certainly need that scepter for a very important battle and–"

The woman tsked, adjusting her bandana around her head and sorting supplies around. "You don't look like much of an explorer, I doubt you got anything worth keeping, shorty."

The sorcerer crossed her arms even tighter because indeed, she was a bit short, but that didn't mean she wasn't any less fierce on the battlefield! In fact, it was one of the traits that made her such a remarkable teammate, that she was cute, yet a powerhouse. And it sucked that no one would see it that way but her and a few others.

Yet, it was true that she didn't have much of worth in her pockets. Sure, she had spare gems to sell, but they were needed for invocations and like hell she'd give them to such a nasty seller like her. The scepter had much less battle value than invocations of choice. Still, her eyes would dart ever so often at the sparkly weapon, and she felt ever so frustrated at seeing her plan stagger off-road.

Sighing, she silently told the seller that she was giving up, and the woman padded off somewhere to mind her own business, leaving Uraraka momentarily alone in the shop. The small, cozy shop was cluttered with glass galleries and shelves full of useless stuff explorers had picked along their ways: from broken kettles to shards of porcelain. Some parts were dusty, others a bit crusty, but some cleaning would fix up the place.

As her feet trudged along the wooden floor, Uraraka heard busy stepping from the main entrance, and tucked between a counter full with cloaks and old clothing by mere instinct. Such hurry in their speed didn't put her at ease, lest they had come for some shady business in this local shop. She truly didn't wish to be included in local scandals, even more while being an actual force to be feared.

Unless everyone had that woman's view on her.

Then, she was good to go.

As the chatter near her died down a little, she sighed in relief and bent back up, only to make a shelf topple and the clothes fell off the wooden plank, scattering at her feet unceremoniously. This made her jump and immediately dive down to gather them together and quickly fold them, patting them when she set them on the cabinet again. She folded her hands behind her back and strolled around the shop languidly.

Though, the clothes had looked so awkwardly thick for her, heavy and recovered. She was sure she hadn't seen them around her village, and the thought wouldn't go off her head, so she continued down that path. Yaoyorozu and Kirishima had told her the temperatures there tended to be lower than usual, because their village was nearer to the coast whereas the Capital was conveniently located near the mountains. It brought to mind how having actual coats would help her during their fight against RampAge, as it was meant to be carried out inside an actual mountain. She sure wouldn't be going anywhere with thin clothing like her actual one.

As this thought crossed her mind, she came across an incredibly fluffy brown coat hanging from a lonely hanger, gathering some dust on its suede and fur. It was overall an incredibly thick fabric with tons of layers and a super smooth, dense filling. Whoever did this was an expert artisan, and such unique piece couldn't go to waste.

Uraraka picked it up from the hanger and inspected it from a closer perspective, and tried to put it on. The cowl reached her ankles and she practically swam in it, as the sleeves hung loose on her arms and the hoodie covered a large part of her head. The fur tickled her hands and face, the suede hugging her skin and the fabric, overall, making her start to sweat. The coat would keep her undeniably warm, her body felt hot and she hadn't used it for more than a minute.

The cowl was folded on her arm and Uraraka contently walked to the counter again, proud to have found something useful. "How much does this cost?"

The woman looked from her dashing smile to the old clothing on the girl's hands. By the looks of it she didn't even recall having it in her store. She arched an eyebrow at her customer. "That thing must have been getting dirt and all kinds of stuff back there where you found it, I didn't even remember having this in store."

Finding this to be rather weird, the brunette looked at her goodie in surprise and mild disappointment. "Could someone have forgotten it there?"

"With what purpose? It's not like people go there and leave their things around. Had I seen this laying around during night shifts and I would have known it wasn't mine." the woman gingerly took the cowl and angled it around, either to search for any loose patches or gauge its value. Probably the latter. "Besides, it does look old and if it's been here for so long with no one reclaiming it, it must be mine."

The woman talked about the product dismissively. However, she wasn't letting it go. Uraraka reached out for it. "Well, in that case…" the shop owner handed it to her again, thinking about the touch and probably assigning a thousand prices to it. "how much will you ask for it?"

Surprisingly, the woman curled a finger around her chin, and sighed with a shake of her head. "No price. I can't price something as ugly and ancient as that, and if it were of some worth, somebody would have bought it or stolen it, judging by how at the back it was. And you seem pretty innocent, I don't think you'd try to scam me even if you wanted to."

She didn't knew if this was a compliment and that made for terrible judgement on her part. "Does that mean I can take it for free?"

"Sure, just as long as you make good use of it."

Uraraka turned heel from the store and hummed contently to herself while marching off the doors, feeling accomplished and having the ponent air brush her towards the residences, yet she turned and smiled to the woman. "No worries, I'm sure this will be plenty useful. Thank you very much, see you!"

The door to the shop closed with a clank of the bell, and the shop clerk couldn't help but stare at the light being shed from the windows, face neutral in deep pondering. "What a shiny girl." she then grabbed a jaded cloth and started wiping the counter. "Definitely a keeper."

* * *

The night was cold, the breeze full of bites and the starry sky full of satellites blasting through the space, and her eyes turned dusky and molten at the feeling of being small, fingers outstretched towards a reality that was too out of reach, but that would someday come to break her free.

The brunette sprawled her digits into the cold air and touched the moonlight, splitting it in front of her to cover her brown eyes. A small wind toyed with her tousled locks, brushed her slender neck. Late days in the village had become like a blur of steps taken in messy directions, something akin to nostalgia sketched in her features, determination mixed with so many feelings that were unknown to her, but forces of fate were pushing her forward to untangle them, keep her head up–

and it terrified her.

Uraraka curled her hand into a fist and looked at it wistfully, keeping it close to her in a silent plea. That little nagging voice of reason was somewhat quiet tonight, making every step she took look lost, misunderstood, horrid and disturbing, as if she was taking a step closer to the devil's ditch with each of her decisions. No matter how many hardships she faced, no matter how many steps she took, why did it all seem like there was no advance whatsoever?

Putting her fist on the base of her collarbone, Uraraka turned to look into her bedroom, catching a glimpse of the black, dusty book on her boureau, waiting to be opened. It was in moments like these when she started to realize how twisted the truth could be, after her talk with that man at the church, and the book that had been haunting her thoughts one day, and the next, and the next and today.

There was a part of her that wanted to throw the book off, because playing beneath the guild's surface and diving into the darkness without their light sounded so wrong to her, like cheating, like being evil, being the enemy. Her head hung low in shame, disappointed by how things had been twisted, how people had twisted her, to the point of no return, to this day when she was going to take a peek into the other side of the coin.

It just felt wrong. It was like the reaper chasing her from above and just waiting in silence for her to make the wrong move and slay her, but there was no moment in which Uraraka found fear in her actions, or regret,. If anything, she regretted having to do this behind her guild's back, as this was not what she had promised herself. The unquenchable thirst of her heart for disclosure, for differentiation on the path she was taking– it was slowly eating her alive.

Bakugou had soothed her, her guild had calmed her, but the storm in that man's dead eyes, chaos twirling like a ballerina and dazzling her like a soothing star. It was a flipped side of the same object, one thrown into shade and one washed over in sunshine. Her heart was determined to find the truth, her brain was dying inside, fearful by what she may find inside that may swap things around.

But, stepping inside the room, that couldn't be real, right? She had strong morals, capacity and will– but she also needed to see, seek and chase after what her mind was focused on: the truth, her abilities, her prowess, who she is meant to be. One of the sides had the key to all mysteries, and all she had to do was discern which one would unlock the right door.

A little sigh rolled off her bruised lips, overbitten by anxiety and rusted by wounds, but they still held the same meaning. No matter how much time passed, it was still her.

The sorcerer pushed the chair out and sat down, wrapping her shawl around her shoulders and lighting up a candle with her fingers– she immediately regretted her decision, as her hand felt instantly cold moments after, and it was all but a pleasant sensation. Using heat in cold weathers like these, with no other fire source, was an immediate mistake on her part. With no elements to bend, she needed to create them out of her own body, and it always backfired.

Uraraka hissed at the flame, yet was satisfied by seeing it open. Her fingers traced the thick cover of the black book, swatting some dust off. Despite the worth that the book seemed to have for the man, it sure looked ancient and mistreated, yet the paged looked pristine. This book had been used, and it have her this sense of dread, sweat drowning her in anxiety and somewhat giddiness.

She opened the book, and her eyes were met with big words written at its top, what she was least expecting to see. Uraraka recited the word with shaking voice. "RampAge."

There was a close-in sketch of the monster on the dirtied pages, oranged with age, but only a few parts were visible, as there were stains and erase marks on some points, dirty with ink and oblivion. There were some environmental elements sketched around it, and even the detail of some people scarcely drawn at the bottom, facing the stained sketch. One of them even had a hat like hers, and heavy clothing too.

Trembling, Uraraka turned the page, and there were some details noted down at a side along with some other drawings. "Ice." breathed she, taking in a crisp breath. "Is this… why they are so afraid of ice?" because after all, Jack had mentioned ice represented time stopping, disgraces occurring, idleness and solitude. Did this have to do with this monster?

Possibilities were high, but that was another story. For now, she at least knew what element it was made of: a cursed element. Pretty suiting. All she knew was that Bakugou could actually try to face the monster with his ability if there was an opening to attack on him, but strategies were another story and she was pretty sure they were already aware of this information, but had never had the opportunity to explain to her.

After all, this book, despite its ominous presence, seemed to be throwing light in pretty unimportant matters. Why was this a thing, then?

" _Stands idle, doesn't use direct, individual attacks_." read Uraraka off the book, squiting to make out the fine hand writing in the flickering light. " _Unbeatable with gradual attacks, only beatable with nuke raiding. Physical rejection._ Which means… it depends more on power than coordination."

It kind of explained why Bakugou's so called 'prior troops of exploring' hadn't been able to tackle this foe, because they thought that group power and wearing it off would defeat the monster. Judging by the book, it didn't look like it. However, then again, why was she trusting this source of information? And why was she the one, of all people, to know of this?

Uraraka turned to the first page again and caressed the drawing gingerly. The sensitive part of her body was completely quiet to see things unfold, and there was no fiber of her that deemed this book to be unreliable. The cover was worn off at the sides, used many times, and the fact that such encounter with the ghostly man actually _occurred_ and he had given her this was a seller for her. Uraraka bit her lip at the illustrations she had missed around the big stained monster.

There were some lines around the monster, as if to silhouette the scrapes of a mountain. There were some holes and bricks meticulously drawn in there, they looked like buried bridges in the stone of the mountain, she traced them with care, eyebrows furrowed at the precision and care in the drawing. The picture looked bleak, cold, as if it was a lifeless husk only inhabited by those people fighting against the monster.

Her eyes drifted again and again towards the little scribble of a sorcerer on the battlefield, as if her eyes could nothing else but gravitate towards it. There were no stars, no animals, no nature, no nothing in the picture, yet it attracted her so much for a reason she couldn't see yet, but would understand soon enough.

Her frown grew severe, still tracing the figure of the semi-hidden bridge absent mindedly. There was this little shape of something she deemed to be a stair to it embedded to the walls, yet she couldn't quite make out its purpose. For now, she tried to focus on what was important here, which were actually two things: one, how did that man know… all this information, so specific? (because as she peeked on, there were even some measurements on the beast, its nature, etc), and two, what were they supposed to do with that monumental gap in sizes?

Uraraka made a rough approximation and reckoned that RampAge was at least two cathedrals tall, whereas they were not even a tenth of that amount. This enemy was… a monstrosity, the knot tying all times together in a mess, whose destruction could mean other letting the strings fall into place, get messier, or just shatter. Her head tilted a bit more into the book, as if to grasp it's whole meaning. She ended up smelling the closed scent of it, ash and metal.

Of course this was a hinder for her first way around it, which was having Bakugou and Todoroki nuke the shit out of him, but there was no way they would, as their fire forte came from their abilities, and the same way her zero gravity had backfiring, theirs would too. Since the monster was made of ice, an all-on attack with a fire element would work out most efficiently, and that was probably the reason why the leaders had approved of taking her along.

But deep inside, there was this deep, gnawing feeling of distress bubbling to be free. Her eyes dulled at the question pending on her head. "Why… _me_?" her eyes gleamed in a distraught flicker of doubt. "I'm not… that reliable."

Was it because she was a sorcerer? She wasn't entirely sure, but the fact that a book with such specific data had fallen in her hands, from a man she didn't know yet felt… connected to, in a deeper way she'd never understand, and somebody so dark affiliated with Shinsou that was probably all but good news, yet wanted her to know this specific thing about RampAge: its element, they keys to defeat that monster.

Shinsou had never been interested in helping them out, yet guided her to what would end up being the absolute solution to their problems. A part of her was awfully suspicious of how incoherent their actions were, but didn't judge them: after all, they were helping her guild out, and no matter what they all knew about RampAge, perhaps there was more information in that book than they knew about.

She was torn between giving them the book and keeping it to herself. Pursing her lips, Uraraka leant further into her chair, making it sway a little as she digged deeper into her thoughts. It occurred to her that Shinsou and his elder probably deemed her to be able to defeat RampAge on her own, which was a little bit of a stretch. True, sorcerers could theoretically summon as much power as they wanted to, making her invincible against any foe– but her body, it was too frail to sustain such thing, RampAge being too strong and needing a much higher attack than what she could take.

Uraraka had the brute expertise to make it happen, and all she truly needed was the will, but she wasn't so suicidal to go headlessly into a battlefield, knowing her guild would kick her out if she tried being reckless again, so that wasn't much of an option. Besides, she had training to do with Bakugou and a crew to help her get stronger, she had ties here. It wasn't like she was the only one who could defeat it or anything.

But let's take it a step further and imagine she actually wanted to go and face him on her own – it was a bitter thought, but for some reason, Uraraka gave it an insane amount of thought. The place described in the pictures seemed icy, cold, probably glacial, and the only way to kill off such monumental monster was using fire. Uraraka very much doubted there was any source of fire around there, and the only way to create such magnificent fire would be her own–

And suddenly, a tiny, insignificant piece fell on its place, knocking a bucket of ice and making it drench Uraraka to the core with this treacherous feeling of despair, fear and sudden realization, as if all knots had been tied together and, again, this sense of chasing chance had caught her in its claws again, making her turn again to face what lay on the back of the room.

The cowl stood on the hanger by her bed, still as thick, fluffy and undeniably hot as it had been before, as if the keys and locks of predestination had been entwined and, suddenly, she was confused again, outrunning the sharp blade of a sword that had been pulled at her from the very beginning, a menace she hadn't seen until it had been in front of her. It was as if the cloak had been there all her life, like this simple and blatant solution, making cold sweat coat her thin skin as this sick, awful plan sketched itself in her mind, _as if it had always been there all the time, waiting for her_.

Before she could reach out for the menacing piece of clothing, there was a knock on the door.

Uraraka secured her shawl around her shoulders and stiffened at the soreness of her legs, yet made the way to the door regardless. There was another knock, then the door opened with a creak. The face behind it wasn't one she expected.

His fist lingered in the air, as if ready to knock again, and he arched an eyebrow at her seemingly tired shape. "Bakugou." breathed the brunette, feeling air return to her lungs again. She couldn't deny that seeing him around was a pleasure after such throbbing experience. "What are you doing here? Isn't it like–"

"Fuking late." finished he sharply. The flicker of candles outside hammered his body under the light, and it occurred to her that she could have snatched one for her bedroom. Also, his body was covered with a different, darker cape this time. Probably a fixer-upper for the loss of the last one. "I can't sleep and we have stuff to do."

This time around, unlike other times, he waited for her to catch up, probably understanding that is was way past midnight and surprisingly not mad at her not being asleep. Either he knew she'd be awake or he didn't give a shit about it. "Hold on, what do we exactly have to do?"

He was clearly expecting some other question, for he whipped his cape and marched off the door, almost angry. Uraraka was almost forced to follow suit, grabbing the key to her room and sprinting to him, falling into pace a bit later. "I promised you to train, didn't I?" true to that, he _had_ promised, but after all the hassle with RampAge and travelling they hadn't really had energy, time or space to do so. "We've been slacking off because of all this shit that has come up, but you ain't free of a beating once in a while."

Yeah, nobody said he was smooth with words, and time and lack of energy were making his blood boil. After all, he was also pressured by tangling timelines and the Capital's clog to even remember about Uraraka. Remembering about their little date had been so out of the blue that he hadn't had other option but march straight to her door, and realize she was exactly what he needed. No matter where she was, he'd go hunt her down if necessary.

When Bakugou set himself a goal, there was no way he'd be letting it go that easily. Looking behind him, such sentence became truer than words would ever express. Uraraka then glanced up at him, panic flickering into her eyes and making him smirk. That was a call. "Why so late, though? We will have enough time tomorrow and–"

"We've been supposedly summoned to meet Gunhead tomorrow afternoon, and we will go as far as we can 'til RampAge's location."apart from the alarming amount of anger in his voice, apart from the truth behind them, his swearing wasn't getting any better. No wonder she found herself doing so more often now. She hoped he wouldn't be using her body as a punching bag. "We'll be leaving this fucking place tomorrow, no matter what the Capital decides to do about us. Honestly, I don't give a crap anymore."

"Wait, but isn't that too soon?" asked Uraraka, hurrying to stand completely to his side, then leap forward and stop his stride. "Like, this isn't Pyrox, or that foul giant lizard at the canyon! This enemy is actually _important_ , Baku–"

She didn't know why, she truly didn't, but when he pushed her arms down and wordlessly marched forward without her, it stung. And not a little sting, but more of a tug, something noticeable that spread like wildfire and fueled her to pry even further. Uraraka jumped backwards and met his side, only to find him grimacing at her insistence. "Stop nagging me, you get so annoying sometimes."

"Will you listen to me this once?" of course he wouldn't, he'd march off to the door like he always fucking did, because nothing changed and there was this part of her that, despite having promised not to, was getting tired of it. "We are being too reckless about this!"

Bakugou kicked the door open without any kind of recognition for what she was going through, as always. She still ran after him, closing the door before it fell off its hinges. "Enough of this shit, Uraraka. This ain't your choice to make–"

"Neither it's yours!"

"What did I say about interrupting me?"

"What did _I_ say about dismissing me as if I was a fucking child, Bakugou?" counterattacked she, watching him casually stretch as if the situation, as if _she_ was nothing, and swearing couldn't be helped when he was being such a hassle on her shoulders. "You are entitled to carry out decisions and actions in our behalf, but you can't actually _make_ them for…"

His face had turned grim, shoulders shaking, and that was when she realized that she had crossed the line once again, something unfathomable breaking inside of him and it somehow made her fearful to the bone of what he was feeling, of how he would act, because she had never seen him more disturbed than now. Something blatantly obvious hung in front of her, but she didn't want to make half-assed assumptions.

All she knew was that, first, RampAge was very probably more than an enemy to him, and just now he was proving her so and further, seeing his actions before they parted, his passionate hatred towards it against everyone's fear and mild disdain towards it. Everyone seemed to acknowledge and assume RampAge was a fue, whereas Bakugou _knew_ it was.

Secondly, Bakugou was pulling a massive scimitar from his back, one that sure wasn't wielded for elegant knights. She wasn't sure what to do with this but push herself into a fighting position and frown at him, sparks flying to her eyes the moment their eyes met, that iridescent connection flickering alive once again. Coal fire met coffee brown, but his eyes… they didn't hold the cruel, teasing glint to them she grew to be fond of– they were heavy, burdened.

That man… it wasn't the Bakugou she once knew.

"Shut up." mumbled he between gritted teeth, earning a hardened glare from her. "I'm always fucking telling you to… but you never fucking _quit_!"

With a swing of his scimitar, Uraraka would have brought to her knees during their first fight, but this time she was capable to land to her feet gracefully this time around. Uraraka let out a small pant, because this wouldn't be another fight to fool around. Sincerely? She was glad it was that way.

Seeing her remain mostly unaffected, Bakugou frowned at her kneeling body, and regained his composure when she got back to her feet again. "What's the hold up now, Bakugou?" tempted she with a malicious smile that made something snap in him, snap _badly._ Uraraka brought her arm back, charging up. "I would have never thought of you as a quiter!"

The brunette urged her fist forward, making a tremendous wave of impact crash with his body and make his feet hiss against the cobblestone pavement of the residence's courtyard. Be removed a smudge of mud from his cheek, eyes never faltering from ire and darkness. "You don't know who the fuck you're talking to, then!"

Bakugou was quick on his feet to charge up his scimitar with heat from his ability and ran at full speed towards her, not expecting her to dodge so quickly to a side and kick him on the ribs, propelling herself off his side and landing far from his rolling body in a cloud of dust, the wave from before still rippling underground. Mental images of countless pages ruffled past her, and her fingers met in a familiar sign.

"Walker Guardian, Summon!" chanted she, making a gigantic lion spark by her side and rush at top speed towards Bakugou's body, to which he responded with a quick recover and a hand to his wrist, calling out a explosion that not only helped him stab the lion to dust without much thought, but also helped her realize that no novice spell would work against the powerhouse.

The leader was able to reach her and, with a swing of his scimitar, he bruised her right arm with a stab that had her screaming in pain, her body becoming alive and scorching as blood rushed to that wound, spilling out the moment she made a reckless move with the same arm to send Bakugou back to place, a barrier of fire urging him to step back. Her mind pulled a blank as a bubbling feeling sparked inside of her, determination switching in intensity, yet never dimming.

And no matter how hurt she looked, his looks didn't seem to lighten up, like they would have once. Bakugou ignored his trembling, burning hand to look at her quietly, how she hissed and the raw intensity in her eyes to fucking burn him to pieces. But somehow, there was no contentment in his heart like there would have once been, he… he wasn't enjoying the view. The blood, it didn't look as beautiful as it should.

Still, he bit his tongue and sprung right back at her, only to be met with a strong gust of wind slowing him down as Uraraka leaped around the courtyard to avoid his strike zone. Small slates of pavement clicked off the ground under his furious steps, watching her send small attacks that barely grazed his skin. All of it, done with her injured arm.

"What the fuck are you trying to prove with this, Uraraka!?" demanded he, staying idle to see her land for once. At this, she didn't even respond, only grimaced and charged another swing with her hand, sending an endless stream of vines off the ground to tackle him, which he cut through with a swing of his scimitar. She sure was getting used to hand wielded magic. "Fucking make it stop, already!"

But make _what_ stop, wondered Uraraka. Her expression turned kinder for a second before remembering who this man was, what he was capable of doing to her despite their complicated story together. She was already panting, probably due to sleep deprivation, but no one but his attacks would bring her down. There was no way out of it now.

Uraraka sliced the air with two of her fingers and a slam of her boot on the ground, making the ground stand up once again and send him back in a much stronger movement, along with all the slates that had gone flying that went straight to bury his body in rubble and dust. She had no big debris to work with, and using elemental magic at such dark time was never a good idea, not in a minor yet… actually major fight like this.

Because something seemed so out of ordinary in here. His movements were still as brazen, yet more calculated and precise. He moved slowly, cautious, but still as angry. It's as if she was seeing a new face of him she had never even known about, and she was dying to see more of it, know what was this he needed from her this late in the night.

She didn't know how long they stood there, fighting in the night. Silence enveloped them as people slept, but they remained restless against the other, his sword piercing her skin and her magic and kicks melting his skin like plaster. And yet, nothing changed.

When her wounds bled, there was no enjoyment. When she screamed, there was no joy in him. And the shock after witnessing both her pain and the loss of insanity in his charade against her… it was driving him fucking crazy.

The leader removed a bead of sweat from his cheek and jumped to his feet with his arm, his capacities all but lost. He was quickly met with an intense slash of energy rippling to meet him, but he was able to make it through it and ready his scimitar, coaxing a groan out of her and this shiny light to her hands he knew to be all but light and peaceful.

"Give it a rest already!" she criss-crossed her fingers before him and created a barrier to not only force him some meters back, but send her flying back to a wall at such speed that Bakugou almost grimaced at the sound of it, such raw intensity separating them he wanted to have her back again.

However, when he forced his eyes upon her, she still stood there, unbeatable. A hand on the wall, a hand to her cheek to force her head to level his glare, twice as angry and determined to go on fighting, but he could see the little cracks in her armor just as she could see his. The situation didn't matter anymore: they had brought pain to the other, and the only way to settle this was deciding a winner.

And Uraraka wasn't going down that easily. So, sighing shakily, Uraraka dropped the meek act and stood up straight. If he wanted a full-on fight, he'd sure as hell get it. Uraraka faced him, turning her palms down before her.

"You want my wrath?" and with that, fire enveloped her hands until they were set on pure, wild fire, warmth drawing out of her as she consumed her own heat from their moving battle. "Then that's what you're gonna get!"

Uraraka pushed her hands to the ground, and a huge explosion rippled under him, scimitar almost flying out of reach if it hadn't been because he was ready, so thrilled for all of her, all she had to offer, and while in mid-air, created a huge explosion of his own to go slam his power onto him. His scimitar though, it sliced through dust, as she had already moved off the wall and jumped to the center of the backyard again.

He looked behind him to see her panting, breathing heavily, and she was so fucking infuriating to deal with exactly because of this. Her hands were weak, her body was small, but now she was a flame and there was no way to put it off.

He didn't want to care about a terrorist.

Look at her.

He wanted to go back to when he'd enjoy seeing her so beaten up, bloody and scathed, not so fucking messed up because a part of him didn't like the situation. In fact, hs stomach lurched, his whole being was repulsed at the idea, but he just couldn't– he needed his old self back!

What the hell had she done to him!? "Make it fucking _STOP_!"

Bakugou went for the shortcut and sent another explosion her way, and she surely hadn't expected this as she made no fucking attempt to dodge it and embraced the flames, being knocked out of orbit while exhaustion started to get the best of her. And even as her eyes blurred, as they started to grow heavy, she refused again.

Tired, livid at her and so fucking pride hurt, he sent another explosion to come eat her alive. Her body rolled some meters away again, but she was able to pull herself up once again with shaking knees, not fast enough to dodge his impatient attacks or ignore his furious wails for her to give up, to stop fighting him, to fucking surrender.

 _She refused_.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" spat he when she actually got up, swaying a little but still on the game. The fire around her hands never died. In fact, she was daring enough to play hooky and send a barricade of furious flames to lick at him, and that was when he realized that this wasn't her being reckless, or trying to prove a point– but she was in the same ground as him, not knowing when to stop fighting him, when to just give up.

She wanted to see his true face, to see the mask come undone. She needed to see the true man. But instead of giving him a true response, she kept on wordlessly giving him the fight he wanted, bruising, blistering and licking his skin with a furious, incandescent gaze, crowned by a ireful frown.

And it felt like a fucking joke. "I'm gonna rip you to pathetic pieces, Uraraka! You won't tell me–" Bakugou shook his head in resignation while she waited for him to attack. He knew what she wanted, she was so fucking crystal he should have known she wasn't good news! "YOU WON'T FUCKING TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

Bakugou sent a rumbling quake under him with his scimitar and took the opportunity of her stumbling form to successfully pin her to the ground with a shameless kick, her hammered body rolling and leaving a dreary stain of blood at its wake he followed to reach her. Her body panted on the ground, the fires still crumpling in his ears, and he rolled her to face the sky with his boot. Her eyes were still as lively, her hands were still burning,and blood flowed steadily to the ground, pooling and staining his boots.

It was ridiculous, this was fucking ridiculous.

Bakugou took hold of his scimitar, the ghostly feeling of satisfaction coming back for a split second before the then, suddenly, grabbed the feeling with his whole might and stabbed her side, twisting the blade in her – only to feel such enjoyment seep out of him, only to be met with moonlight washing over his bloody scimitar and a panting, critical body heaving up and down at his feet.

This was the first time he felt so fucking disgusted of letting his feelings go that far: the resentment towards such a big enemy he just _needed_ to defeat, memories he had never wanted to encounter, only to funnel them into the small body of this woman, who lay before him with this impassive glare that was so untypical of her, as if she was mocking him, as if she wasn't hurt enough to admit defeat.

Because she never fucking admitted defeat. She never owned up to being hurt, only acted to worsen it and somehow, he was the one ending up hurt now, seeing her stare at him blankly as scarlet, thich blood surrounded her head and upper body, limbs frail and he felt like a void was going to swallow him whole, the terrorist he had once grown to hate transforming into this blurring picture that had his stomach clenching, his fist gritted,

and he just didn't know how to fucking _feel_ about this. It didn't feel right anymore.

"I don't know who the fuck invited you to my damn guild, what kind of godly force pushed you to my damn doors, but if you can, I want you to fucking undo it!" screamed he, only to be met with her ragged breathing and the sound of crickets in the distance, and dust washing over the area. "I never asked for this– for this fucking feeling! For whatever you fucking did to me, because I fucking hate you but– _FUCK_!"

The leader drove the scimitar into a crack next to her head, the blood of the sword melting into the pool around her. She blinked once, twice, and he wondered if this was her way of saying she could hear him, because he wanted her to see what mess she had made of him.

Bakugou kneeled down, kneecaps soaked in velvet red so he could fist the fabric of her damp uniform and make her look at him. "I didn't need another fucking sorcerer to drive me crazy, I had enough with my damn mother and RampAge making my life hell!" yelled he without even realizing how much truth and faith he was putting on her, confiding such a great, weak spot she could tamper with. But he couldn't take it anymore. "I don't need you to come swarming with your deal, with your sparkles, with your smiles–"

Her eyelids closed a tiny bit, and he shook her awake with a ragged loud growl. Her hair sprayed some blood to his already dirty clothes, and this bug inside of him was making that disgusting nausea grow into hatred for her wounds, for the ones he himself inflicted in her so unfairly– and Bakugou was a fair man, but there was something else to it that was making the line confusing, and he just didn't know if he should be stabbing her life out or tending her.

Yet, his grip faltered without his consent, and her body ended up slumping on the ground again while angry, frustrated tears prickled at his burning eyes, staring at her once smiling, innocent body full of smiles and soft hugs, now cold and bloody under an attack he had mercilessly put on her.

It was wrong– not his feelings, not anymore, but the picture of her being bathed in pain was the fucking worst thing he had seen so far. And he wanted to shake it off and hate that bug for making him sink to such depths, but in the darkness, he somehow didn't mind anymore. He was just too tired of denying her, of not seeing the truth. He couldn't look away anymore, not when she was like this, all around them silent as his self-hatred for hurting her so spirraled out of control.

He couldn't face it. Not now, when she would forgive it like she always did, and shrug it off as him being him. Bakugou couldn't take pride for doing this. He just couldn't blame her anymore. The blonde wanted to scream at her to give his life back, to stop fluttering around him, to just stop existing, but he knew she wouldn't give up.

Her eyes looked at him, drinking from his breakdown. _She wouldn't let him go_.

Bakugou held in an ugly sob and cowardly stumbled to his feet, her body unblinking and dead tired. Blood washed the slates clean under them, but nothing looked cleansed anymore, just plain wrong. "I fucking despise you… so much." grunted Bakugou, looking down at her as if she was the plague, but he knew she knew better than to be guided by his eyes in such superficial level. "You should be dead. I fucking… you _aren't_ dead."

And you never will, hung the unsaid words.

Bakugou looked at her one last time, as if waiting for an answer, but was only met with her eyes following his every step to the door, silently waiting for his exit as he staggered to the door and slumped in.

The body of the woman who gave up in favor of him lay bruised, bloodied to the bone and crimson despair covering her clothes. But Uraraka would never blame him, because her heart had been twisted too much, and in the end of the day, in the darkest of days, she'd still forgive him.

* * *

Nameless had a weird feeling whenever the sun was out of too long above her. Her skin wasn't used to the warmth that made sunflowers grow behind her house, or the overly stuffed breezes with hot puffs of air. The girl knew better than to bask in such warm weather when she had lived inside a cold house all her life, her parents no more tormenting her mind and suddenly gone out of reach, as if they had never existed to start with. Maybe, they had never existed?

Nameless sat on her knees, palming the windowpane with this distraught expression on her face that Mina couldn't recognize on her sister's grim lips. She reached out for her with shaking digits, as if her sister was a dim reality and her body, shaking sand. "Sis, what's wrong?"

There was a light hiccup to her words, and when the brunette turned back, there were unrealized tears in her eyes. Her lips were quivering, and her finger shakingly pointed to the stars outside. "They will be gone."

Mina tilted her head, blinking at the confusingly distraught girl. "Uh, what?"

"The stars." mumbled she, looking outside again. "They are gonna disappear, soon."

The pinkhaired girl crawled a bit near to her, but didn't make much out of the way Nameless recoiled from her touch. Such a strange thing of her to say, to do, to look like, as if lies and deceit were hanging from the stars and she was watching each of them explode galaxies away, that wise, enigmatic doe pooling in the brown irises of the powerful girl. "What are you talking about? Did the fever from last week not knock off yet?"

The girl did all but answer vocally, bringing her knees to her chin and looking up from the big, transparent, clean gallery windows. The world was a glass break away from reach, and she knew she could reach it. Why did she feel so encased by a gruesome future, then? "No, it's not that." she refused to look at her sister, whose black eyes were glued to hers in sheer worry. It made the situation all the more tragic. "Have you been talking to mom and dad, lately?"

Mina hurried to sit pressed flush to her side, bringing an arm around the other's waist with the intention of making it feel better, whatever _it_ was. "Not more than usual. Why?" this made the girl's curled up posture tighten. "What's wrong?"

Yet, the girl felt like this wasn't the right person to talk with. There was someone off-limits that needed to be warned about the death flag looming over him to come stab him dead. "Nothing." but Nameless looked up again, and curled her tongue against her cheek, sad. "They will be gone soon anyway."

* * *

The world was a merry-go-around. When Uraraka had found herself a home, destiny had met the immovable object she was and stripped her off a home, making her leave everything behind to, who knows? maybe forever. Her mind was a drizzle of conflicted thoughts that had had her struggling to heal her wounds during the night and pretending to sleep like everything was alright– yet nothing was alright, and she found herself staggering in doing so the following morning.

"You alright, Uraraka?" asked Kirishima to her once she had entered the Council's building. Her eyes had bags hanging loose from them, chestnut orbs lacking shimmer and her tresses a bit tousled to her very own liking. The redhead found himself tucking a loose strand on its own corresponding place, to which she answered with a yawn. "Seriously, didn't you get any sleep last night?"

Even when he was like, ten steps away in the middle of the rustle of the busy hallway, Bakugou heard his pal perfectly, to the point that his words had felt like an accusation the blonde turned to, head craned an inch to their direction in a low scowl. His friend had the right to be worried: there were ugly burns on her hands that still had been healed properly, as well as her reddened neck and some nasty cuts on her arms. Nothing severe. She'd survive.

But the fact that he had ended up letting his anger and turmoil get the best of him, all those feelings encased for her, let it all explode and blow her into smithereens had been hassling his whole existence all night. Unlike her, his bruises weren't cured– and it's not like she had done little scratches on him, something that he was actually pretty proud of. Yet, the image of her bloody, beaten body had been chasing his rest around until he had given up the fight and ended up resting his body under the cradle of an insomniac moon.

There was this feeling, buried deep within him starting to scratch the surface and make his heart shatter, and he fucking knew what it was because he was no fool, and this unquenchable feeling of guilt over having hurt her so unnecessarily had brought up an important question: one he had had in the dark for some time, and one he wasn't ready to answer just yet.

Yet, there is this other issue he had come to clash with, one he hadn't made her be aware of because there was this feeling of having the upper hand, and the day he slammed it on her he was damn sure he'd shut her up for good. He clenched his hand when he heard her sputter stupid excuses, and strengthened his resolve about the truth hidden beneath that angel's face.

Both sadly and rightfully so he was going to have to make pieces fall into piece. And he knew she wouldn't like it– he was torn between feeling happy about it or actually disappointed that things had gone downhill so fast when she made for such a fine opponent. A shame.

Bakugou sharply turned from the pair and grunted to himself. Midoriya caught up on his distraught demeanor and directed him a questioning glance that the blonde answered with a glare of his own. "Come on, let's get this bullshit over with."

A wave of silence fell around the guild members in the span of Bakugou rising his fist to the grand doors and actually knocking on it. At the back of the group, Uraraka held in her breath and expected something big to happen the moment light creaked from the doors' opening, and a dash of sunlight washed over the big corridors, interrupted by the bulky bodies of her peers.

A figure looked out from the window, arms crossed as he contemplated the golden streaks of light warm up the town beneath him, floors below. After the busy stepping of his visitors became blatantly noisy, he turned around. "Ah, I see you ended up coming, after all."

Uraraka bravely stepped in between some people to stand at the frontline, shocked by two immediate things, one of which she was sure Midoriya had noticed for the pale shadow that washed over him. First, the fact that this man had such iron helmet that it covered his whole damn head brought to her a feeling of awkwardness, because there was no way to see his face or his eyes for that matter, and it somehow upset her.

Secondly, she had picked up on the hoarseness of the man's voice, which sure had held a honey gleam to it yet had turned black and jaded with time and something else she couldn't see, but it definitely was weighing him down. At her frown, Uraraka felt a hard set on eyes land on hers, and she could already know who it was after their time together. She had always been good at this stuff, no wonder there were eyes on her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you finally, Gunhead." spoke Midoriya clearly. "It took us a long time to schedule a proper meeting with you, is the Capital so busy lately?"

The man sighed, as if he had known what they had come for even before they knocked on his door. He adjusted the black kimono around his big body, and took a seat behind his big boureau. He urged Midoriya and Bakugou to do the same, letting Todoroki and Uraraka settle behind each respective leader. Kirishima was right by her side. "Well, it's impossible to deny we are going through some… difficulties, I'd say. Nothing worth fretting about."

"It _is_ worth worrying about when we have an important matter to discuss and no one can give us a rightaway answer, above all when we are in an actual hurry." answered Todoroki with this ice bitten tone that made more than one turn around. "How many difficulties can clog a system all at once to make it so inefficient?"

Uraraka blinked at him once, maybe twice, and looked at the man in front of them, who didn't look pleased at all with the situation at hand. He was tense, back straight and hands folded on the table unnaturally. "It's more a matter of me being busy with several meetings and paperwork. With RampAge starting to roar in the distance, I've had to authorize many outings of doubtful quality." he panned his view on every member of the group, letting his eyes linger a bit more on Bakugou, and some on Uraraka. He turned to Midoriya. "I take it that's what you are here for, right?"

Yeah, Bakugou's glare on the general didn't leave much margin for imagination. The knight looked at him with a light frown, uncharacteristic from him yet much needed for the time being. "We need a pass from this region to the next one in order to reach RampAge, and provisions for this journey."

Gunhead leaned his head onto the palm of his hand, looking at the group with a trail of silence threading around the members of the team. There was this hint of unamusement in the way he breathed, although it didn't seem ill-intentioned. "I see. I don't know why you haven't gone out of your way and left on your own. I think some guilds are doing that."

"We know better than that." replied Kirishima with a severe expression, taking a step forward to step right beside Bakugou. The blonde looked at him wordlessly, a bored expression painting his eyes. "We want our objectives to be official, and be supported by the Council."

This was when Uraraka seemed to notice not only Kirishima's unbreakable support for his leaders, but also how in sync he was with Bakugou's intentions no matter how reckless they were at a logic root– in fact, everyone was, excepting her. She never saw anyone having serious banters with Bakugou on a daily basis, or have them cause the deep gashes they were marking on the other's skin. In fact, some of his wounds still hurt from the other night, and they were still oozing pain no matter how much she shifted.

Yes, her views on things were completely disconnected from the guild's, and there was no way to deny it no matter how much she tried to fight it. And her relationship with Bakugou was completely different to the others'. Her mind went back to the black book, then the cawl, and her mind staggered a bit forward,

"I have been informed of your actions and your rank as a guild on a national basis, and I must say I am impressed." he then took out some spare papers from under his desk, and proceeded to read them carefully. "You were also involved in the raid against Pyrox, am I right?"

Something in the tone of that guy made Bakugou tense up and spring a bit forward, but Uraraka was quick enough to calm him down with a hand to his stiff shoulder, calming him down without even looking at him. He sneered at her with malice, but still tried to cool down at the accusatory tingle of Gunhead's voice, at the same time musing over how cold her hand was. He knew that after using self-fueled fire, her temperature would drop down some bits, but had she overworked herself so bad?

"The raid was done for this mission's benefit." parroted Uraraka without a hint of determination in her voice, because she had almost been forced to believe this – among many other things, and he noticed this. "We pursued after Pyrox for this same objective. We already faced a severe ban, there is no need to punish our activities any longer."

This would be the last time Uraraka forced words out of her mouth. Last time she talked against something she believed in just for the sake of placement, sake of belonging, sake of following the beaten track. Bakugou noticed the slight deadpan in her voice, and it gave him this sinking feeling he absolutely didn't enjoy.

"We are aware of that." said the general twice as serious, not peeling his eyes off her. "You must be the sorcerer included in the document, I assume."

Of course Bakugou would have made her the one to defeat Pyrox despite it not being an absolute truth, and she didn't know it she should be elated or mad at this. Regardless, she knew Bakugou was, most of the time, a fair leader, but the the fact that she now had a high ranked man with his eyes on her had her inwardly angry at the leader. "Uraraka is my name."

"Yes, Uraraka." surprisingly, there was no hidden layer to his voice, but actually sheer admiration at the information in front of him. "I have read some things about you here and there from other guilds' feed. A scarce kind."

The brunette swallowed, watching how Gunhead seemingly evaluated her, how he loomed over her like this very same scythe everyone had against her, but it somehow felt like a softer menace and a warning more than an actual threat. She gulped again, fisted the fabric of her pockets.

"All of you had achieved great feats, but I don't feel sure about sending all of you into such battle." confessed Gunhead. "It's a dangerous monster, of that I'm sure you all are aware of."

The whole guild turned to Bakugou on that instant, aware of his uninterrupted effort on the cause. The leader, who had been silent this far, grumpily hissed at them, but talked anyway.

"We've been researching around older archives and investigations." stated Bakugou, shifting on the chair while Gunhead poured all his attention on the young leader. "We have just enough information to have a defensive strategy, but if we truly want to have the upper hand, we would need more extensive information from your knowledge."

Wait, did that mean they didn't know anything? Shock pushed awkwardly into her, eyes blown wide as she looked from the impassive leader to the more impassive general, who shook his head at the stupidity of the plan. "You had planned on going against such monstrosity without as much of an attacking plan? Do you even know how tall this guy is?

Bakugou leant back against the chair, chewing over the defeat. "No."

Uraraka shuddered. "Do you even know what element it's made of?"

She didn't wanna know that the answer was a "...No." but when she heard it she felt so fucking ashamed of herself, because she knew all this info and much, much more, but she hadn't shared it in hopes of deeming her guild to be more cautious than that.

Her mind went back to the pages and the drawings and numbers engraved to it, feeling a wave of nausea hit her at the thought of her mates finding out about her hidden business– business that could have helped them, but seeing the source of her information, would they have made any use of it? Would they have let her stay knowing she had such powerful document in her hands?

Uraraka had done well on keeping herself quiet, but she was terrified to the core.

"Then how can you be so foolish to try to go against such an formidable foe without an attack plan? Were you such a brazen leader to let your people head into danger so easily?"

Uraraka saw him bite his tongue at that remark and square his jaw, but she couldn't deny Gunhead was right. A shudder ran down her spine at the thought of them not meeting with the general and leaving like Bakugou had planned, and who knows what would have happened if he hadn't been called out in that matter. Uraraka felt rather stupid for believing Bakugou was a perfect leader, and only felt more sure that there was something darkly personal driving him to the edge.

The blonde crossed his arms tighter. "I know my people and know how capable they are, unlike you. But if we are here is to actually draw a backup plan, and I am sure you know we will head to that bastard's lair without your help or not." he leaned back onto his chair, crossing glances with his mate, who has a pretty judging glare on that Uraraka wouldn't like to be the victim of. "Your choice."

Gunhead leaned back onto his seat too, gauging the superiority complex of this man who seemed to want the world, imagined it being so tight in his grasp that he could feel it crumble to smithereens under his heated glare, but Bakugou still remained jailed in his high tower of might where he had no other view but his own ambitions, and couldn't see his tower had no legs to stand on.

Still, he knew the ambition in his eyes, on Uraraka's, on the redheaded man, on Midoriya, and on the rest of people in front of him. There was no speck of his being that doubted those warriors.

"RampAge is an incredibly big enemy, it's the reason why it's hidden on the crevasse of the mountain, because if it were to be outside there would be no way to limit its power." explained Gunhead with a heavy tone, one Bakugou had carried when he had first explained the situation to her. "The mountain has a seal that can be manually opened to let warriors into the mountain and fight the monster, but it's a temporal fix. The area enters a countdown and once it reaches zero, the area is locked again."

Uraraka didn't know this, but she wasn't exponentially alarmed by it. Judging by everyone's faces, no one was. Not even Bakugou, who crossed his legs and stared in pure boredom at the general. Truly, this was nothing new.

"It's an ice monster. The areas around there are completely either frozen or chilly, so you better cover that naked chest of yours for the voyage." it kinda broke the tension in the air and made Kirishima glance down and laugh shortly, only to be met with Bakugou's infamous glare. "Due to its size, it's been reported that it's impossible to lower its defenses or its speed with traps and the like, so it's preferable to use single attacks to wear him down slowly."

But Uraraka knew this already, and she was forcing herself to believe it was alright to do so. After all, she was just one step ahead, right? There was nothing wrong in being so. _There was nothing wrong in being so_.

Bakugou tilted his head a little, making his golden hair sway a little. It sparkled in Uraraka's eyes somehow, to see his hardened shape be framed so beautifully, like that. It was… mesmerizing. "So, fire attacks it is, huh?"

"Or powerful ones in general." Gunhead looked at his reports briefly, and took a second to breathe before continuing. "I am aware that you have powerful peers at your reach, but don't abuse of them foolishly. RampAge moves so little there isn't a potential energy drain, more of a stamina one magic-wise. Our sorcerer friend here better be ready for a rough dance."

Uraraka didn't really know what to say about it, but Bakugou fortunately did. He looked at her, many embers of anger concealed inside of his glittered orbs, as hers glared back with other many issues pointing at him, the previous night far from forgotten. He could bet she was aching, she could bet he was aching, too, but in a different way than hers.

Both turned sharply to Gunhead, and the leader was the one to reply with a frail, convinced, yet kind of lowered voice. "May look tiny, but nothing frail about her."

That sentence would have warmed her heart days ago, but he was used to turning the tables so quickly that she was left confused, wondering how he could change meanings so fast without her even noticing. It hurt to not know where to hold onto when she needed it the most, what to believe to keep her in place, but her fate was slowly fading, words and promises shattering, and she had sworn to play good, but it tore her apart to admit she didn't see the joy in doing so anymore.

Maybe it was just a feeling. She truly hoped so.

"I have heard of her feats, she sure is a tough one." commented Gunhead, praise dripping shamelessly from his voice, yet there was no way to stop and stare at that. "You should have gotten extra help from another guild, anyway. Uraraka sure is strong, she _can_ be strong, but how strong?"

The girl had the answer so ready no one saw it coming. "More than enough."

Bakugou had never seen a face so foreign in her, of a fierceness she only displayed in battle mixed with probably anger, determination, and the sweetness that coated all her skin and words had suddenly evaporated from her and left this pitch black shadow of a misjudged warrior– one who had been set up by he himself as well, and he sometimes mentally punished himself for such stupidity.

Yeah, she was a terrorist, but he should have given her time to explain herself too. But he digressed. "We tried contacting other guilds for support, but no one was open for a try or even wanted to hear about it."

"I wouldn't have thought people would be so passive about such important problem."

"They aren't." interjected Midoriya before Todoroki could defend them. "But fear can sometimes cloud visions on things like these, no matter their importance."

The general hummed in approval, nodding at the young man. "Roger that. But words won't help you out in this battle, and while I'd love to send troops there to aid you in battle, most of them are either casualties or too scarred to fight again."

That was a cold statement to make so lightly, and Uraraka visibly shuddered along with some other people. What kind of bestiality could RampAge be to traumatize its enemies like that? Uraraka suddenly felt small compared to the issue to tackle, and despite trying to pin it down, it somehow wouldn't stop nibbling on her. Her eyes were wide, disorientated, and a little bit more afraid than two seconds ago.

The judging dances ebbed down until there was nothing there to withheld, and Gunhead allowed the young man to relax a little withdrawing his eyes from the blonde's, and looked at a pair of crossed swords on hanging from the walls. Highlights from the sun filtered across the room and scattered on the various prizes around the room. "I can grant you the access and allow you to exit the Capital… but there is a prize to pay."

A little chuckle reverberated across the golden room, all eyes flying to Bakugou's shaking figure once again. "Your little brats told us about something fishy going on around here. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't even be here."

The general shook his head. "Those little girls… too troublesome to my liking." Uraraka could see a clumsy smile through his words, but he quickly snapped into focus again. "There has been a serious spike in criminal activity in the capital these months, and it's rumored around town that there is a looming mafia lurking around the corners of the Capital."

Midoriya jumped in his seat, whereas Bakugou stayed quiet. "A mafia!? How would such a dangerous organization make it here?"

Yaoyorozu coughed, as if to let herself speak. Gunhead condoned this with a slight nod. "It's always been known that the north was a wealthy area full of mines and business, both in fishing and administrative handling of lands on the faraway villages." explained Yaoyorozu. Since it was a known fact that she was the most acknowledged with these political issues and was Midoriya's right hand in those, Uraraka wasn't surprised to see the leader absorbing information like a sponge. Truly, when Asui mentioned that a leader wasn't always the strongest member of the guild, she wasn't kidding. "Jack has a bigger domain on the outskirts' economy and I wish she was here to explain it more clearly, but RampAge's attacks have been affecting the area more seriously, therefore making it more prone to sabotaging and govern hijacking."

Bakugou nodded at her, then turned to Gunhead. "Jack's been feeding me data about it, so I was more aware about it than greenielocks here." the aforementioned was about to defend himself, but Bakugou actually reasoned it out. "Though, in his defense, Grinning Blade has been more hassling lately."

It awed Uraraka to not see the blonde jump right after to somehow lessen the impact of his words, but she welcomed the gesture. Gunhead spoke right after. "I guess my daughters must have reached out for your help then. You don't seem surprised by my request."

To somehow participate in the trail of the conversation, Uraraka stumbled to explain. The moment the breathed in to speak, all eyes were on her. And it terrified her. "When we first came to the town and to these headquarters, we had the notion that there was some disturbance and tension in the air," she locked glances with Yaoyorozu for a moment, then spoke to tweak and shift her words according to the context. "probably because of the tension due to this crisis, but we couldn't really tell."

There was no way she'd said she suspected of the administration to be implicated because this was no time for it. She knew timing better than anybody.

The following words were probably the first hint to cooperation Uraraka would ever see in Bakugou again. "What she said. We couldn't really get much done due to that regard, so it must be a pretty big issue if you are so damn slow in here."

"As I said when this meeting started, we have big issues to attend to." explained Gunhead in the same nervous tone he had greeted them with. Uraraka picked it up again. "We are working to unclog it and get the administration going again, but people are complaining about these mafia rumors so often we can't sort all charges at the same 's what we need help with."

Kirishima arched an eyebrow, but it was Todoroki who spoke. "With administration?" but he carried the same disbelief everyone was feeling.

" _No_." Gunhead crossed his hands on the table, again, unnaturally. "I need a powerful army to catch this gang before it spirals further out of control. If my daughters called you, it was because they deemed this guild to be powerful enough. They are especially picky." he leaned on his chair as he tapped his fingertips in deep thought. "Besides, you could use as practice for the showdown against RampAge."

Uraraka saw Bakugou look at Midoriya grudgingly, and the green-haired knight retorted back. "We can't delay our battle against RampAge any further, sir." Midoriya took a deep breath. Images of the various disturbances in the village rapidly breezed past his mind, which he suppressed down to give a hop to his voice. "The disruptions in our village are going too far, and we fear not having a village to come back to at all if we cast the matter aside for longer. We must act as fast as possible, or else we will lose our home!"

The words were left hanging in the air for a scarce span of seconds, quick looks exchanged between members as the reality of the situation dampened them to the core. It was true that maybe, as their backs were now turned to their very village, that very same home had been cluttered with such disturbances that it had been wiped out of existence, and the physical appearance of it – more like the _possible_ scenario – gave them the worst kind of chills imaginable. They didn't dare dwell in the emotional implications of it.

And Bakugou hated being so nitpicky but he had Amelie there and a blacksmith to worry about. "We can't be pushing our duties any fucking longer, or we will be swept under the rug along with all other villages affected by this. Is this what you all want?"

She didn't know that other places had been destroyed by this catastrophe, but she doubted this was what Bakugou truly worried about. She dragged her eyes down his muscular arms and saw the little twitch of his fingers on the armrest. He was growing impatient for a green light, something that allowed them to move forward and not stagger side-ways like they seemed to be doing lately.

Uraraka looked a side, letting all weight of the situation swallow her and consume her body that was her until all that was left was a peeved glare in the general's direction that surprised him, yet he didn't forbid her from speaking. "Sorting this part of our mission out will unclog the administration here a little. Perhaps that can persuade you, maybe not, but all we know is that we have little time."

And something in her voice convinced him like the others hadn't, as while their voices had been stone, flat, she had been round and soft in her edges but still as concise about her wants It could be because of her round features, or the way her clothes swayed in the sun like a fairy's wings in flight, but Gunhead didn't care about that. All he saw inside of her, inside of these people, was a warrior army like he had never seen before.

The general slowly started condoning their outing with a gradual nod.

"I see how it is." spoke the man softly, playing with the guild's strings like a musician played the harp, and sighed against his entwined fingers. "You shall part to RampAge's lair tomorrow, during noon. I will have my best craftsmen create suited armors for your battle and some supplies be given to you, or at least… try to." there was this little chuckle that nobody liked, mostly because this man was supposed to have an upper hand on this government but.. he seemed hand-tied. "I very much hope you get the rest you deserve, little ones. You have the greatest quest of all times in front of you."

And everyone finally let out a sigh of relief after this because they were finally allowed to be free and, honestly, with the help of the Capital, they were more than confident in their abilities, for everyone smiled given this new surge of the events. Uraraka, however, had her brows knit in worry for the mission, aware of the fact that Bakugou had built his comrades' expectations on false encouragement and rash plans, and a bitter taste on her mouth told her this mission could go south in a moment under RampAge's hands.

Then why was everyone so happy? Why were they all pretending this was _fine_? Uraraka couldn't understand it. No matter how much she tried to be in sync, she couldn't wrap her mind around this fake confidence. She just couldn't.

Kirishima questioned her gloomy, droopy eyes with wide eyes, but the girl shrugged it off with a small smile of more fake confidence, only building up this madhouse of cards and blowing deeper into this toxic balloon, hoping it wouldn't reach her when it exploded. Her eyes drifted inevitably to Bakugou again, who still observed Gunhead with a severe gaze, yet there was more ease in his muscles.

He was believing this fantasy too. She couldn't believe it, she sighed. "Then we're all set, right, guys?" everyone nodded in unison, but not with the same energy as Midoriya, who seemed enthusiastic and mostly naïve. There was a glint of sheer gee inside Bakugou's eyes Uraraka felt guilty about, as she knew this was by no means a good idea. There was no way this serious, responsible yet… now she saw, his true nature, how he was pushing his ambitions so far he couldn't see he was going to crash with the horizon.

Uraraka didn't want to do this– yet, what wouldn't she do for him despite his greediness, such big ugly monster that had almost killed her the previous night? It was heart twisting. It was painful. It terrified her. _This_ was _wrong_.

Her nails pressed against the back of the chair with a bitten lip. "Yeah… I guess." mumbled Uraraka to her neck, looking at the several cuts at her wrist that her own leader had carved into her skin. How long would it take until she broke? "We're ready to go."

They weren't. "For now, you all are dismissed." condemned Gunhead. His eyes were focused on Uraraka despite having his head turned to the leaders. His lips drew a smile from underneath the helmet. "Please, rest for the rest of the day. I'll have new weapons be brought to you by sunset."

Well, and to think she had almost wasted a ton of money on a scepter the day before. There was something good to the situation for now. In the middle of her train of thought, Uraraka absent-mindedly picked up the sound of the chairs scraping against the floor. Then, a hand on her shoulder, and a gentle yet determined set of eyes placed on the side of her neck. When the brunette craned her head, she found Yaoyorozu looking down at her.

She had to be usually reminded that she was awfully small. It was an ironic point. "I have some books to show you. I bet you'll like them for our battle tomorrow."

Uraraka should have known the knight would have a plan in mind the moment she was given the right parameters. Finding something good in this wrecked situation for once, the girl nodded with a soft smile. "I'd like that. Thank you very much."

"Hold it, hold it!" called Bakugou out with a fierce frown, not letting the ladies go past the doors as they turned to look at him with wide eyebrows. "Don't borrow her for too long. I have stuff to discuss with her."

"Stuff?" murmured Uraraka, tilting her head and feigning some degree of naïvety. At this point it kind of relieved her to see that he wanted to solve their differences and talk with her, and as his bashful expression told her, he would probably be saying sorry. However, his tone seemed graver than she would like it to be, for she looked at Yaoyorozu in doubt.

"Ah, I see." yeah, whatever this was, if it wasn't their own personal issues, Yaoyorozu knew about it. "It will take me as less as possible then." her slight scowl turned into a slight smile. She seemed hopeful. "Let's get going to the residence."

* * *

"I still don't understand, Yaoyorozu," the black haired woman turned to Uraraka with a stack of books on her arms, leaving them on her bed to pad to the worried sorcerer, who eyes the covers of the thick books. " _these books_ , why now of all times? I can still recall you snatching these off my hands."

The girl chuckled at her and, instead of stealing the book from her hands, she shoved it deeper into her chest. "For starters, these aren't the same books. I should have discarded those when I had the opportunity, but they have almost grown roots there…" she eyed the ones on the wooden desk, then the sorcerer in front of her. "Regardless, I thought that under such twist of events, we could skip some basic tactics. Given that RampAge is more sensible to single attacks and nuking, we'll need you to give it your all. Todoroki, Bakugou, and Midoriya will aid you as well, and I'm afraid us others incapable of generating fire will try to come up with something tonight."

"I see." spoke the other softly, tracing the creases of the book like she had done the day before on another kind of volume, one that sat on her boureau. Curiously enough, Yaoyorozu didn't feel the presence of a new, unknown volume. Not that Uraraka was complaining. "I guess then that there must be something important here."

There was this velvet tone of appreciation in Uraraka's voice at the importance of the item she was being given, and the knight relished on finally meeting Uraraka's expectations training wise. With all the moving after the village's fiasco, they sure hadn't trained a single bit, and it showed on the brunette's broken ambitions. Though, there was this vibrant spark of defiance Yaoyorozu hadn't seen in her eyes weeks ago, and it was making her heart soar in unspoken ways.

"I only know the basics of the book, it has key aspects of the spells you'll need for our encounter against RampAge. Since you'll be one of the very few people to help, we must have you fully gauged."

After that, crickets chirped and birds flew in the distant night. After such afternoon beating over every aspect of Uraraka's magic training and making sure she was completely ready, there was not much more to say or do other than stay quiet and let the importance of this moment finally sweep into them like a wave, or a thunderstorm, or a breeze in a lake. None of it mattered though, because the silence was thick and tense, but Yaoyorozu knew what to do right away, as if she had gone over this moment endless times.

The knight slapped her hands on Uraraka's shoulders with a smile, and her eyes were undeniably tender like no one but probably Todoroki had ever seen them. "I have all faith in you, Uraraka. You have the expertise and confidence to pull it off." she then tenderly rubbed on them, making the girl shake visibly under such gaze. "It's not like we have any other option, right? I'm sure… Bakugou's plan will be successful."

The odd choice of words made Uraraka feel that she wasn't the only one to really doubt it, but the tinge of positivity that clung to her heart, desperate, was still there, and anybody accepting Bakugou's orders like clean paper was suddenly losing all credibility to her, such judgement leaving her in an empty husk of a land that used to be fertile and vast, yet had turned sour and dry.

A part of her wanted to scream, wanted to destroy all proof and trial in this mad process and let it burn to the ground, even if it costed her sanity or her thin skin for caring too much, for feeling things for a man that was ultimately going to destroy her– and worst of it all, she knew all along. She knew that letting this all invade the empty husk of her heart and protrude it in such intoxicating fantasy was wrong, that believing it would last forever was a mistake and that holding onto it was hurting her like a blistering flame.

But she still watched her body burn, wound, be torn apart and rot in his hands, as if she was nobody else but another face in a crowd when she had cared, when she was who felt the most, when she had fought for it all to end up well. But if she had been so nice, if she had been so kind and careful, why was she the one getting the bad ending?

Uraraka sighed in her grasp and nodded as strong as possible, her resolve only gaining power the more Yaoyorozu let her be, the more she let her be. Their bodies twirled away until Uraraka was stranded in this lonely island, where the only options were to be wiped out or lose the line the sand. Maybe Yaoyorozu was right and she was strong, but by doing what she thought was right, there was an act of weakness that wouldn't let her rest, not without his voice in her head or thoughts of his touch in her skin.

What was this she was feeling? Was it despair, was it fear, was it pure loss? She just couldn't tell, for the truth was too near and close and it was _suffocating_ her to know this late into her life that in the end, all her existence had been in vain, that she had made it turn around one person, knowing that if he left, she would too, and just aware of the fact that despite the scars he craved into her, or the incredible pain that he charged into her heart, she would always forgive him.

And this was her ultimate vow of weakness under the pinky of a strong, indifferent man that felt nothing for her. It was her losing the fight, it was her finally admitting what he had screamed to her all along. It was… resting. Peacefully.

Clutching the wool of her neck to her chest, the cawl tattered into vision with a forceful slash of light into the room, with a blow of a curtain, and Uraraka slowly walked to it, feeling the low lights change directions and start ticking into place. Her fingers traced the heavy clothing, curled the straps, felt it weight down on her hand. It was a perfect masterpiece. She knew it would be a hassle during battles, but the firecrackers would lit up her hopes whenever she felt the warmth wrap around her ever so slowly.

The girl pulled the cloak off the hanger and put it around her, and the change in temperatures was almost instantaneous. She looked at her hands and could practically feel the magic seep out of her fingers. This was what she wanted, what she felt she deserved, the liberation, yet felt so fucking guilty she wanted to cry.

Regardless, Uraraka cordially walked to her boureau, picked her shit and started working her mind through all the problems in the book Yaoyorozu had given her. With blinks, water and several easy candlelights, the sorcerer was able to realize that these spells were… just high, incredibly powerful and if Yaoyorozu thought her body was strong enough to encase these powers, if she thought she'd be able to pull it off, Uraraka would just pat the dust off and dirt her nails. She was able to create small replicas of the spells with almost minimum effort, almost blowing up half a wall of the room when she wasn't able to hold all the power in.

After this feat, Uraraka looked at her trembling hands. Was this really the power she could deliver? Had Bakugou really been so stupid to hold it in when they could have done so much stuff with it? The leader sure was intelligent, but Uraraka was tired and by far much more able to see where this was going to end. She called her magic back again by fisting her fingers, and defiantly ran to the book again, determined to find the perfect cure for this dilemma.

As the sorcerer skimmed through the pages of the book, a small handwritten sentence caught her eye, standing alone in a dirty leaflet.

"Borrow the power," whispered Uraraka. "and return it into the light."

The girl confusedly turned the pages over a few times, and didn't discover anything similar to this, making it look like maybe, just maybe, Yaoyorozu was actually supporting her in this instead of being as reluctant as she once seemed– which, mind you, Uraraka felt relieved for. The sentence had meaning and reason: it somehow talked about cycles and exchanges of powers, how no magic body is stable with too much or little magic.

Her brow twitched, and grabbing the book, Uraraka blew the candles off and marched straight out of the door. She wasn't content with this setting, she couldn't stand in that room any longer– so she _ran_. Her feet stumbled and flew across the corridor, her mind acknowledged with how many turns it took to exit the residence, sharp images from the night before vividly crashing in her mind, but she did her best to swat them off. She had no time for this!

Panting, Uraraka slammed the door open and leaned on her wobbling knees for support. She rose her head to meet the empty backyard and cobblestone, slates still caked in dry blood and rain from the other night. Uraraka run an ugly hand along her hair and felt how the cold tried to bite into her skin, yet this time around, there was something different, and no loss was felt. Instead, warmth coated her frame and embraced her. It was nice – decided she, stepping deeper into the area and eyeing some corners for eavesdroppers – and she couldn't wait for it to consume her soul.

Uraraka entered a fighting stance, charging up energy and being left speechless as fire easily started to surround her hands, licking the cold air and consuming it like a match lit against the pavement, and with a shake of her arms, the fire started rising up her body and lighting her arms in warm flames, but none of it hurt her, or burnt her clothes. It felt good, to let the power start branching out and see the wonders it could do.

She swung an arm in the direction of a small bush and called in a gale with her other one, and watched how the fire typhoon swirled around the winds and plummeted into the bush, reducing it to ashes in a matter of seconds. Her breath hitched at the effortless show of power she had done in a matter of seconds, and knew why this had drained so little energy from her– which meant that her logic, her plan, was perfectly viable.

She didn't know what to feel, because this was no more than a shorter scale of what was about to come. The blazes started trailing down her arms and dimming until all what Uraraka had were her outstretched hands, facing the sky as she stared at her palms, wordlessly letting her fingers twitch at what she had been forbidden to do. Should she be happy because she has realized she's got what it takes, or should she be sad because it had to be demonstrated in the worst of ways?

There could have been other options. Perhaps, in another time, in another era, where it rained and people screamed, perhaps it would have been better. Maybe he could have made it feel better than this.

Her irises trembled as the wind picked up, swaying her hair and making her turn her head to another small bush standing in the way. Curious, Uraraka quickly came up with another spell, and capable of warping it to her desire, she stomped her foot on the cobblestone and watched a myriad of tough vines shot up from behind her and launch at the bush, destroying the earth beneath it and, as Uraraka called out a fire to ignite the vines, the small plant was ashen in two split seconds.

The girl grinned at her feat proudly, not feeling any counteract from this usage of power. Her attacks were usually slower and more careful, but this way… it was a new chaotic way to see things, and she didn't dislike it the slightest. In fact, she was enjoying it to some degree.

She tried to call out the fires and rejoiced when they lit up her body– "What a way to act hooky, Uraraka."

Her body would have gone rigid and her lungs, ragged when he heard his deep voice, steamy hot eyes burning on her neck as his ever so present emotions glared from behind. Uraraka put off the fires with a small shake, as if only shaking her hands awake, and craned her head to a side to acknowledge his presence. Funny, she had learned to spring back after a fight with him, and trust her, it wasn't funny to witness. "Bakugou."

Her voice, hoarse, usually milky like honey and sweet like sugar. Her body, hunched over when it usually stood straight or on the ground, at his feet. It wasn't a pleasant sight, but his more human side liked the rawness at reach. "Flashy much, huh."

At this, the girl turned to her leader ever so slowly, only to find out he was walking towards her with an awfully calm set of eyes blaring at her, but she could hear his heart beating against hers as one. She could see the handle of his axe poking from his back, and it brought back, yet again, another weird set of memories that had her standing defensively again, ready to fight. After all, that was all they did, right? Bleed until the other was satisfied. It was oh, so toxic, yet so enticing, and all she wanted was to try him out again.

Judging by the liquor in his eyes, there was no doubt he wanted this too. Uraraka spoke with a downtone to her words that had him feeling again. "You don't seem surprised."

"Do you really think Yaoyorozu didn't tell me about whatever she was going to do with you? Every step you take, I'm right before it." he weighed his axe in his hand, giving it a few spins.

To be fair, she had been so focused on her own struggle that it hadn't really crossed her mind. She gritted her teeth. "Eh. I had other business to think about."

Bakugou glanced around the ruined garden parts with a sneer. "I see." and without really much of a warning or a sign, Bakugou lunged forward with his axe in hand. "Not that it's gonna be much of a use!"

When she didn't move to dodge his attack, he grew curious– until she slapped her hand into the wind and created a barricade of flames going straight for Bakugou, who jumped up to avoid it and gave Uraraka an opening to dash under him, shooting off with the impulse of a flamethrower in her hands. The hunter landed with a screech of his feet against the cobblestone, all while Uraraka started charging her body up again. He watched in the distance how her arms were engulfed by fire and how her short hair moved along with it.

Somehow, this didn't amuse him much, for he just chuckled and swung his axe again, going against her again as she crossed her arms and unleashed a slash of fire that he easily dodged, yet his improvised jump was suddenly met with a slap of wind that knocked his body out of orbit, and sent him to his feet some meters away from her. He had moved double as her while she hadn't moved an inch, yet the wave of destruction was evident in the broken slates of stone and the path of dust branching off her shadow.

And yet, she remained unchanged. "Stylish." remarked Bakugou. With his axe on his shoulder, he issued a huge explosion that sent him off flying in the air towards her, but Uraraka quickly created a mix of water and fire to steam and fog into the air, distracting his trajectory and making him stand idle for two seconds that gave her the opportunity to kick his back and make him hit the brick wall.

The man landed with a thud that actually knocked his air off, probably because he was too damn tired to do this, nervous for tomorrow, and because he had this controlled beast starting to come undone and the dominant glint in her eye wasn't good news. Fog cleared from the scene and there stood she, cowl blowing in the wind and wiping sweat off her brow. Yeah, she was a damn sweetheart, but there was this devil inside of her he had always seen, but she had always known how to show the right angles to conceal all wrongs in her heart.

Uraraka was tired from fighting, why lie? Physically? Yeah, but mentally? Much more Because enjoying this free display of prowess in front of him, directing her attacks towards him was breaking her heart little by little, and oh woes betide if she ever got the nerve to evolve and pay him back for all he made her went through: for making her start feeling for him without a reason.

She panted. After all, the heart wants what it wants, right? There he was having it, her at her rawest, and his glare so intense she wanted to flee. But she didn't. She never did.

The blonde supported his weight on the wall and grunted. This fingers curled on the concrete walls as he growled out his next words, letting them fall out of his lips almost without consent, but was still well aware of their impact on her. "I ain't gonna train with you anymore, Uraraka."

And that was a real ground breaker. They had never had a real training to start with, but his words meant so much more than a mere sparring session: it meant developement, it meant trying to cast their problems aside because let's face it, they knew each other better when battling than cuddling, and there was no way he was going to have her grow either, apparently. Uraraka looked at her hands, once proud of what they held, but now feeling torn about it. "What!?" spluttered she disbelievingly. "Why the h–"

"I ain't gonna feed the beast any longer, Uraraka." his voice was thick with emotion, setting them all free as he spoke, his chest feeling lighter yet tighter the more he let his feelings reel it all in. "I'm tired of being always doubtful on what your intentions are. And seeing how rash you are behaving, against what we very well warned… you're a fucking cunt."

Two seconds of silence palpitated around them, threatening to choke them, but the girl still stood there. Speechless. Frozen. Feeling all their development crumble to pieces with the rash touch of his sole hand and the shake of his words, and all was left in front of her was the moon washing over the man she once knew, one she had wished to never see again– but his eyes were still as red, his skin was still as tough, and maybe, just maybe, he had always been the same.

Maybe, just maybe, she had just been a fool for thinking he was different, that he _could_ be different. The girl clenched her jaw, fisting her hands again until a spurge of stone determination surged through her, letting her fingers uncurl and let blazes fall to the ground. She let out a grunt as he frowned and hunched to a defensive position again. "You…"

Uraraka threw her hand back, and caressed the ground with her fingers to send a ripple of fire to burn his flesh, yet her heart was so all over the place she couldn't exactly comprehend what was going on. "...you asshole!" screamed she, jumping up to aim another forceful punch in his direction, aiming with her other hand and landing in a cloud of dust he left at his wake.

"You are the fucking bitch here!" barked he in the distance, starting to throw spikes of power sways to her recovering shape. He very well took opportunity of her irritation to knock her off her feet, and Uraraka just felt once again like she had been tricked so, _so_ badly. She didn't like feeling stupid.

The girl rolled on the ground once again, and clenched her fists with a grimace before getting back up with a jump, only to be met with another swing of his axe. "Stop fucking getting up!" he blasted in her direction again, to which she answered mimicking his dodge from earlier and readying a swing of her own. "FUCKING STOP!"

Bakugou unleashed the most powerful explosion he could muster and launched it in her direction, making her body scatter to the ground and burning the edges of the cawl, yet it survived the big boom. Uraraka supported herself with her elbow, but before she could even get up, there was a blade on her neck. "I said you fu–"

A hand enveloped in fire grabbed the blade and started melting off the edges, making Bakugou stagger some at the fire licking at her irises. "Let go, Bakugou."

He swatted her hand off and slammed it to the ground with a boot, feeling the thin skin tear some under the scraped soles of his footwear. "Make me."

Thunder rolled in the distance, illuminating the leader's frame for a clap of seconds as their breaths staggered in unison, ragged in emotion and pain as her hand lowered, yet his weapon never neared her throat. Instead, it ever so slowly drew away from her yugular until it clattered on the ground, falling right in front of her where the water was forming puddles under the moonlight, there the slates were destroyed and the ground was still warm from her fires.

Her breathing turned jaded as she stared up at him. A part of her wanted to grab the axe and show him what a bad time was, yet she knew she'd never bring herself to hurt him so much– on the contrary though, it seemed as if he had been so close to straight up ruining her that it scared her, made her body turn cold and her eyes widen at the realization that not only her kindness was shortly seen, but also ravaged.

She gritted her teeth. "What is this about not training with me anymore, Bakugou? Just– after all we've fucking been through, you are still hellbent on neglecting my progress as if I was some kind of nuisance? Is that it?"

"Why the fuck would I even be wasting my energy on this if I didn't have a reason to, a decent one!?" barked he back, making her flinch and grimace. She was sitting up now, an arm wrapped around her as she used the other one to support herself. Under the night's shade, her shape looked up to the leader, who towered over her and brought a nostalgic feeling, remembering their first meeting. A flash of recognition flashed across her eyes. "I won't be training somebody who has been playing behind us and going off on her own to seek, for example, _books_ that weren't supposed to be in your hands!"

At this, Uraraka stared up at him, letting the wind blow her tresses as the truth shook her reality, a harsh lie meeting what her eyes had seen, what her head had never witnessed, but most importantly, what her hands had never felt. "Hold it! I have never–"

"Don't fucking try to deny it because Yaoyorozu fucking found it all in your damn bag!"

Uraraka clenched her jaw, fisting loose gravel on her hands, circling her digits on the pavement. "Why are we always circling around the same topic? Can't you just realize I am not going to hurt any of you? I would have already done something if I were so evil, Bakugou!" his eyes widened a fraction before turning back to their sour trademark frown. "Just get over it already, I won't hurt you or anyone from this guild!"

"I never said it was only because of that, you brainless cunt!" spat he, pointing at her as if she was scum, or the lowest of peers to him, and the raw emotion in his eyes terrified her. "Look at your damn body, look at those scars and look at your hands! I can see how much you've been doing and the mental effort you are putting on yourself. I already told you at the beginning: using all-on tactics is like nothing to me, Uraraka."

The girl shook her head in disbelief, and her eyes narrowed down to a disappointed gaze. "What do do you even mean with that?"

"You are fucking overdoing it again as I told you not to! Seeking books, studying on your own, and I can't stand it." because you are doing stuff to strong for you to handle, because I care for your well being– wanted he to scream, yet he was so drowned out in feelings, confusion and anger for her rash acts that there was no way he'd make such confession. He squared his jaw and looked at her with a hard glare, hoping to just make her stop with this. "I won't let you develop into this you are morphing into. I'm not gonna have it!"

Uraraka struggled to get up, but when she did, her knees were wobbling and her chest was heaving up and down in tiresome pants. "You are nobody to tell me who I am or who I can be only because you rule over me. My training is mostly based on book research, and since we haven't been training, how am I supposed to even build strength wit–"

" _Enough_!" screamed Bakugou, picking up his axe by swinging it with his foot and pointing it at her. Silence wafted on the area like a thick duvet, squeezing them tightly until there was no more room to breathe or to even talk, because they had said enough things and it didn't look like they would get better by talking them out: Uraraka desired freedom, Bakugou wanted victory by having her in rags. And they wouldn't ever get over that difference, above all not when he would take a step forward and then coward and take two back.

Uraraka's brows furrowed down, but not in anger, there was no way that feeling would fit in such fully emotional and small body like hers, but in something akin to betrayal, something he knew to be one of the worst feelings in humankind. "So, you refuse to train with me, huh?"

He wanted to feign ignorance, act as if that face didn't matter– yet it did, in so many ways that he was feeling his resolve crumble the more he looked at her, so he just looked away and glanced at the moon above them. "I won't train with someone who won't listen to me, or someone who will just go above their own limits to try to prove a point. I refuse."

Two beats of silence clapped between them, after which Uraraka let out a big breath in the form of a sigh. "You… you are abandoning, then."

"I never fuck–"

"But you _are_." counteracted Uraraka, continuing to speak before he could reprimand her for a interruption he actually hadn't planned on doing. "After all that we've been through you… you are just giving up because you fear me overpowering you?"

 _No_ , he wanted to say, because it was partially untrue, but also partially true. He didn't nod, didn't speak for a few minutes, before looking at the sorcerer dead in the eye. "I won't repeat myself again. You can interpret this however you wish, but I won't be letting you fucking grow up as much as I can handle, Uraraka."

"That's…" unfair, psychotic, despicable, cruel, villain-worthy– instead, she didn't speak, choosing to limp forward a little before catching herself on the process. The gale of news had knocked her off her feet, left her spiraling out of orbit, puzzle and disorientated for a minute before she realized what she had to do, what she should have done all along. The answer had always been in front of her.

That night, the winds changed. "I see. So that's how it is."

Bakugou was startled to see her so calm over this arrangement, but didn't pry any further and chose to let the subject go, packing his axe on his back and letting his heart do that double take when their eyes locked for the upteenth time, though this time, there had been no blood, no major screaming to wake people up, not the same evil level of violenc evetween them– yet the impact had been just as devastating for both.

Then, when he suddenly realized how things had gone awry, how far he had gone for the sake of… what? He couldn't remember. Her body limped to the door of the residence without another word said, leaving him with that feeling of dread on his heart that hung heavy on him, making his heart fall through his chest and shatter on the concrete underneath his feet.

Why, despite having won this battle, did he feel like he had lost something vitally important? And why did he feel as if a string of his heart had snapped when she walked out of his reach?

* * *

Uraraka knew she was walking through a fragile line when doing this, face hidden beneath the shade of her cloak as her steps clicked against the cobblestone sidewalk. There was no soul to interrupt her stride, no star to guide her home and no heart and pride to tell her if this she was doing was the right thing, if this was the path to take, but her legs guided her out regardless.

The sorcerer heard the whipping of wings close to her, and Edgar landed on her shoulder a moment afterwards, able to find his owner after she had rung the beast whistle at the top of their residential building. Edgar cocked his head to a side, questioning her actions, yet she walked forward without responding to her animal's questioning gaze.

Her brow was furrowed in concentration, hands curled into fists and back stiff as a rod, blending with the shadows of the street and hiding from the various torches that hung on some walls. Her cawl whipped with the midnight's breeze, yet she didn't feel cold despite the aftermath of her battle with Bakugou, and this tranquilized her to some extent, assuring her that probably, this had always been the right way to go.

She didn't know, though. She had had a mindset about things lately, her mind never torn from a certain branch and ever so consistent on what her path was, a straight road spanning into the sunrise and making her never lose sight of her goal. Now though, things were different, and much to her dismay and the suffering she had been through, she knew what path to take.

And it saddened her because she was convinced, deep inside, that this was the wrong thing to do. Yet, as she walked faster to her destination, she was sure of what she was about to do. Despite this hurting her, despite the man that laid in her heart, a man so abusive that made her expression turn grim under the moonlight, she knew what she had to do.

Her eyes picked up the sound of distant rainfall, yet she was sure it wasn't raining there, _it was raining somewhere else_.

When Uraraka finally made it to the building, her breathing didn't get as ragged as she had expected, not did her hands feel heavier– a warm feeling of stability flooded within her, charging her step with determination as she went up the steps and opened the door to the sacred cathedral. Her hands flew to her front, fisting the fabric of her cawl for some seconds before letting go and taking a deep breath.

The girl's step faintly wafted in the air of the lonely place, all benches and shrines devoid of people to occupy them. Uraraka could be a good machine and play the cards against the fate's favor, she could build mountains out of dust and make it rain in a desert. She was that powerful, she had that potential.

"So, you've finally arrived."

She had expected his voice to be that hoarse, after all she didn't remember it any other way. There was no smile in his tone, nor a notch of feeling as the sole sensation of obiquity and grandiloquence filled her lungs, making it hard for her to breathe the more she realized the was between a wall and a hard place, two swords drawn to her throat, dangling as she decided which one would the the one to finally end her life.

Uraraka sighed once, then twice, and looked up to the black-haired man in front of her. Moonlight dashed through the windows as she looked at him dead in the eyes. "I've made up my mind, sir."

It took him a little bit of time to decipher the meaning of her hardened eyes, the sour downturn of her lips and how the stars had finally died in the depths of her swirling eyes. Her expression was, for once, even and pacified. Hands clenched, mouth a curved line and skin stoney cold. But when he caught up with her muted intentions, he couldn't help but sigh in disappointment despite the favorable turn of events for her.

"I see." condemned he, bringing a hand to his neck. "What a pity."

Her body lurched forward a little, feeling free now that she had expressed her desires and frankly, his reaction wasn't one that she had expected out of everything, but she'd eventually discover the tragic meaning behind it all. "I still have one question, though."

She sure was a tiresome little thing, that sorcerer. The man stepped to a side and waited for her to voice her questions, not aware of the fact that she was waiting for a reaction. He disinterestedly walked past her, only stopping when he heard her take an incredibly big amount of air.

"Tell me, please, because I need to know," began the brunette, entwining her hands in the front of her cawl as she pursed her lips. "how did you know all that information about RampAge?"

The black-haired man felt his eyes widen ever so slightly, rumble echoing in his heart and breaking all the expectations he had for this small girl, only making them surpass the threshold of his hopes and draw a shaky smirk out of his face. Despite the brilliant question, he was actually puzzled to see her waiting for his response, as if she actually hadn't known the answer and hadn't asked in a rhetorical way.

His response came hushed, drowned out by the suspended tension that separated them.

"I thought it was obvious." spoke Aizawa without opening his mouth much, looking at her in mild amusement before walking off from her, leaving her alone in the dead end of a cathedral as she clutched her heart, letting the horror and mortification of it all drench her whole being as she came to a terrifying realization.

Her hands trembled to hug her arms, his last words hung loose in the empty air around them.

"If I know it all about RampAge," and a lone tear trailed down her eye, mouth agape as she came to see what was to come. " _is because I created him_."

* * *

Nameless had never ran so fast in her whole life. In the middle of the rain, body splattered in mud and eyes as frantic as they could ever be, searching for a splash of golden while running in the midst of a storm howling high above her head, bobbing up and down as her steps pounded against the ground.

Thunder rolled in the dark sky above her as she ran through the deserted village, hoping to find that place where shadows didn't creep in, where the darkness wouldn't come burning her edges and the light of his eyes would make it all feel better, like gasoline ignited fire— yet if there was something she enjoyed, it was his burning violence.

As if on cue, Nameless heard steps spluttering on the ground ahead of her. The girl almost tripped over and fell, but there was a calloused hand to catch her fall. Yet, when she looked up, there was no gold to blind her, but red to stare at her in urgency.

Katsuki's absent image flickered for a second before it faded into Kirishima, a boy so scared for what Mina had told him that he knew she'd go running away into the wrong man's arms. "Nameless, hey, hey! Snap out of it!"

The girl panted while gaining recollection as his voice cleared away the mist. She gripped his muscular forearms and looked up at him — he was so much taller than her. "Kirishima, Ki— oh, they, they…"

The redhead gave her small body a shake. "Yo, just tell me what's wrong! Mina came to my house and explained… just what is wrong?"

The girl let out a whimper of distress, letting all the worry and distress swim in her twinkling eyes as rain fell on them, which made her hair stick to her face and only enhance the ultimate sadness that cornered her heart. "They… They are gonna kill us all…!"

Her voice was quiet, yet the wet pitch of it and the small cry let him hear her speak within the lights and pitter-patter of the downpour. "What… what do you even—"

She jumped to grab his shoulders and look at him dead in the eye, blinking the tears away. "The humans!" exclaimed she, the words reverberating in his heart as he knew what she would say next. "They are coming for us, they will attack us soon!"

He grabbed her forearms back, boring his eyes on hers to make sense of it all. "Are you sure? Who told you that!?"

Nameless lowered her head and let go of her friend, yet her nerves didn't die the slightest. Rain fell on her red shoes, melting into the mud. "Dad and mom were speaking about it… they are getting dangerous plans… scheming!"

They locked eyes and they exactly knew one lf the biggest issues about this, making Kirishima frown and stare harder at her. Only he would dare to speak his mind. " _Katsuki_."

Nameless nodded hastily, bunching the front of her uniform as the reality of this convoluted situation only got harsher and realer, yet she would soon discover things would only go down from there. "Do you think he's got anything to do with this?"

"With the humans attacking?" the girl nodded again, and Kirishima decided to take it a step back. He knew Katsuki like the back of his hand after some months of friendship, that guy was clear as water in his brazen behavior but tough to translate into feelings, yet for all everyone knew Katsuki had no ill intentions towards humans… but that was all he seemed to show, not what he could be actually thinking. "I doubt he approves of this, he would have killed me while we were alone if so. When did you hear this?"

"I…" Nameless entwined her hands, similar to a pray, letting the wind toy with the hems of her shirt and hair. "Mom said to dad today that they were looking for something we stole from them… but I don't understand… we were here before them, why do they want to steal our lands?"

Kirishima stepped forward to hug her, but Nameless refused to be hugged– which alarmed her, for she was always the one giving hugs and receiving them. She never rejected hugging. "We can fight against them, and I bet our parents will accept to shelter Katsuki in the meantime, alright?"

The girl received, instead of a pat to relieve her distress, a pat on her head with a heartwarming caress. The rain seemed to be dashing away from them, breaking light into the scene. "Do you think we can keep them at bay? Won't they invade us?"

Kirishima was mildly relieved to see the topic steer away from Katsuki, and looked at her warmly despite the rain covering his tough skin. "Of course they won't, and if they dare touch you, horsey Harold will always protect the miss." and Nameless laughed, because it had been years since she last called him like that and it brought this sense of tranquility within her stirring soul. "Besides, we all know you can protect yourself, can't you?"

Nameless tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "What would you even mean with that?"

There was a blatant silence of rain and tempesting chaos afterwards.

* * *

The galloping of the horses in northern direction filled the rocky area of the valley, echoing and reverberating on the crisp walls of the snow kissed mountains. Hail was close to falling on the guild, being barely held in by the gray clouds above the sky. Fog wafted in the air and got denser the closer they got to their final destination, and Uraraka didn't know what to make out of all this without feeling dread and fright for what was to come– she didn't fear death, but feared what could be casted upon her close mates.

She hugged Jack's body closer to her as their horse trailed behind Kirishima's at the fastest pace possible, as if the beast laid behind them and not so agonizingly far away from their reach, but as biting breezes and rain scattering in the distance, with dust being picked up from their hurried race against the clocks, the disturbances started gaining presence and announcing the life-challenging battle that waited for them in the depths of the mountain.

The guild was in complete silence all the ride. Uraraka guessed they chose individual meditation over collective encouraging, yet she felt off without a certain word of hope to put her at ease. Not even their rowdy leader was letting out a word, as of the stars had fallen from the sky and crushed his confidence. In fact, she could swear he looked tenser than usual, but wasn't that normal? She didn't know why had expected him to be more outspoken on his feelings and more lax about them, but the thought of having him be insecure _now_ bore into her like a drill.

She hugged her cawl closer to her chest, feeling the impossible warmth of the thick clothing wrap around her like a hug – one she could use right now, can't lie. Her stomach did those awkward flip-flops, threatening to leap out of her mouth and leave her broken on the ground, making her hands feel heavier than usual as they gorged with blood and want to finish this mission, to just get it out of the way and see what comes out of it.

Her brow furrowed as the silence blanketed on across the guild, feeling how her lack of syntony with them only seemed to boom in her eyes and heart. She felt so isolated in this horse, with Jack, a reality so close and palpable yet so intangible and far away, as if the rain couldn't be shaken off, unbroken. She yanked her eyes off the road to look at Jack's nape. "Are you scared?"

Her voice wasn't meek, she wasn't scared for the battle or her life, and Jack knew this. After all, Uraraka was a fearsome battle in the rags of a small bug, so it didn't surprise Jack to hear her ask such thing. She, however, couldn't be more wrong about this, and time would come to prove this. "Scared? Don't be foolish. It seems like a rather easy enemy if you asked me."

" _Enemy._ " worded the brunette, fazed by how small the word looked compared to the true feat she knew this was. For some reason, this feeling wasn't new to her, the asynchrony and void of the situation– could she say it was even familiar to her? "RampAge is an overly big and important monster, you know."

Jack nodded and whipped at the horse to go faster. Her hands tightened around the ropes, and of all people, it was Uraraka who noticed. "I know. But that doesn't mean I can't be confident on our skills, either."

True, conceded Uraraka, hearing her own cloak somehow whisper the opposite as it slapped on the horse's back. "Do you think we'll be alright?"

Jack craned her head a little to look at Uraraka, her eyes painted in solid resolve that the hunter would love to mirror, but she found it harder and harder to do so the more they ran into the mazes. It was somehow flabbergasting to see Uraraka so confident when they had no plan or strategy and she was one of the most – if not the most – important member of their small army. She sometimes even wondered why she herself was so calm when she had little faith on this messy fixer-upper.

Was this some kind of curse cast upon her, destined to feign indifference to the point of even feeling it? Why was everyone so confident when there was no absolute certainty that they would win? Her eyes met Uraraka's again, and they flickered in agreement, silently transferring mutual encouragement to the other. For Uraraka, that was more than enough, but if Jack had stepped out of the shadows and somehow shown vulnerability, then…?

Uraraka laid her head on the hunter's back and looked at the blonde man riding the black horse, and by the way he was sitting it was obvious he was more used to Amelie's back, soaring up in the sky and firing their foes away– but it was different this time, and the thought somehow made Bakugou look more human and small in that horse, waiting for the same faith as he was. For a second, she felt a small conexion carve itself between them, but Uraraka cut it short. She had no time left to think about that.

Feeling her honey eyes on him, Bakugou turned his eyes ever so slightly to find her looking ahead once again. His eyes scrutinized the threaded pattern of her clothing, not used to seeing her so covered up. Come to think about it, he had seen her wear it during their encounters as well. Something was up with that annoying coat. "She's wearing it so tightly." mused he in a low voice, looking forward. "What the heck's with that damn Uraraka."

The aforementioned sighed into Jack's leather uniform, letting the warmth suffocate her to the point all she could think about was how she knew this would work out, as if it was written in the stars that hung loose in the sky, rotating to see them fight and crash into the stratosphere like lost meteorites, aimlessly aiming for the Earth and landing into a fight Uraraka didn't understand, couldn't comprehend, yet she knew what she had to do, how to sort this out, and the plan behind this madness.

Her back still had chills from the prior night and she just couldn't shake them off. It was horribly disturbing to have that man's face imprinted with burning iron on her sensitive brain, bland and tender. She was getting tougher the more seconds that passed, the forest blurring in a myriad of blues and faded greens and whites before she saw a peak in the horizon. Her throat choked down a good gulp of trembling anxiety. She didn't fear death, she couldn't this far into history, but feared for what could happen during and after it.

She didn't fear the reaper coming to end her life, but she felt, as always, that this was rushing in too forcefully. She had lived this before, somewhere.

"We are getting closer to RampAge's lair!" spoke Bakugou finally, getting his horse to march in the front. Uraraka looked around the outstanding peak, cold biting at her cheeks, and realized that if it weren't for the obvious pressure in the air and the context of their presence, she'd think there was no one habitating the area. The disturbances were getting edgier and sharper, distorting trees and creating abrupt mounts on the ground. That small fear of what could happen when these issues, threads and knots were released settled in again for some minutes, maybe decades before she was able to drown it in acetone and gasoline.

The path took a dip down for which Uraraka braced onto Jack for dear life, releasing her for a second afterwards but silently grabbing her jacket when the hollow mountain was just a lake away. Literally a lake away, as there was a frozen pond separating the group from the monster inside the husk. Bakugou shamelessly clopped over the ice, the small pads on their legs making it possible to not slide off. They had had to cross so much snow that the horses were actually equipped with winter gear.

"We gotta make it in quick!" yelled Midoriya to the people behind, drawing out his sword. It was instantly engulfed in a golden fire that lit up all around him, making Uraraka curious about what kind of power did it have. "The gate will close soon, we have no time to spare! Get ready to dash!"

Jack smashed the whips on the horse and it plummeted forward across the ice, following closely behind Kaminari's and Kirishima's as the hunter grimaced in concentration. Uraraka, not knowing how to contribute, touched the horse after getting her gloves off and reduced its gravity ever so slightly to make it lighter, instantly making it advance faster towards the entrance. As they passed past Kaminari and Kirishima, Uraraka reached out to touch both horses and they gleamed in a pinkish hue before treading faster in pace with Jack.

"The gate is opening!" announced Kirishima as the rock mouth started to trail upwards. Uraraka grimaced as she held the gravity nullification a bit tighter, grabbing Jack's jacket as a small wave of nausea hit over her. The blur of the hurried horses and the spin of her head clearly showed that while Uraraka was an expertised sorcerer, she still had a novice's control on her own special ability.

The guild dashed through the gates, entering a steep tunnel down the built cave and dim lights of various gems embedded to the dark blue walls, flashing across the dark corridor full of dust and sand on the ground. Their loud steps echoed in the wide passage in some kind of silent warning, reverberating in deeper small booms of sound that reached across the corridor, deep and tough, til a small spark of light shone at the ending of the cave.

"The exit is near!" Uraraka winced and was almost deafened when Bakugou talked, the pressure of RampAge's presence so obvious it was making her sick. Judging by the way she saw Kaminari hold the bridles near them, this wasn't a walk down a forest for him either. "Get your asses ready, we're gonna plast through!"

But the moment they funneled through the hallway into the wide opening of the mountain, there was no grand reception as practically everyone had expected. A hush of silence wafted limped on the area, hung loose, as if light yet so heavy given the circumstances. Deciding to be cautious, Bakugou ordered them to be silent and he hopped off his horse, urging his peers to do the same.

Uraraka jumped and bounced to a place at the back of the guild, cautious for whatever thing could happen with her being the trump card of this game. Despite the cold temperature of the huge cavern, her body temperature was still as high as she needed it to be, so all was good in that department. Everyone was looking around like maniacs, as if RampAge would spark out of nowhere despite its obvious size. Keeping her eyes skeptic but alert, Uraraka glanced around.

Her breath hitched when she looked to the upper side of the cavern. "The bridges." murmured she, tugging her cowl and uniform up her face, covering her chin. Up till now, all the rules of the book had been fulfilled, yet there was no enemy around. What was even stranger was to see everyone so tense, yet muted. They had their hands on their respective weapons, some tried to slow their pace down until they were left in the sidelines for the support they had been ordered to give.

A few minutes later, only few of them were stepping ahead. Her steps were slow, a breeze tugging at her clothes as a blatant light started shining in the distance. The frozen, transparent back of the mountain let the horizon issue a blinding foreshadow on the final fight, making time stop and rewind as they mentally prepared themselves for the final jam, weapons clutched tightly while Uraraka simple stroked her hands and cowl with misplaced care. Her home was lost in the tangles of time, she had nowhere to go now, and the rain couldn't be heard anymore.

There was a big shake beneath the ground, deep where demons slept and anger was restless, and the shadows of the warriors grew in length the intenser the light grew. There was then a big crack, the feeling of something falling down like a planet collisioned into another, a crash, and the feeling of their stomachs falling through their bodies as the ground lowered a little, giving view to a rising figure that threw a magnificent shadow over the flabbergasted warriors.

There it was. Standing at the height the book specified, the shape it carved and the exact same screeching noise of disturbance everyone had expected. The presence of the looming monster, such giant creature that it felt like it was going to crash down on the very damn earth, its height indescribable and endless– it left Uraraka breathless, speechless, melting into the reality of what fearsome beast they were going against. However, she was able to look closer with her trained eye. " _So… that's what you are."_

RampAge let out as horrible screech again, and the pressure of the room skyrocketed and forced them all to their knees, slamming a deaf noise on the ground. Before she was able to do anything about it, Midoriya drove his sword into the ground, twisted it, and light filled the cracks until the pressure snapped loose and shook the walls a little. When she was on her knees, Uraraka frowned – was that his ability? Judging by how there was no significant effect on his body, it didn't look like it.

She then looked at the monster, which as predicted, stood idle before them, far away but still too close to her liking. She then realized as lights blended with rocky surface that there was a thick layer of ice coating the creature. This small setback made her purse her lips and knit her eyebrows in focus, but it seemed like Bakugou sure had a plan to counteract this. His frame dashed by hers and left a gust of wind between him, swinging his scythe back with a jump that made all dust scatter from the spot.

He then called out a explosion that threw him to the enemy's awaiting arms, and Uraraka, for some reason, wanted to stop him. She took a step forward, tried to run, but all air seemed to be knocked off her lungs as Bakugou exploded against RampAge, creating such a wave of impact that the sorcerer fell down and rolled some behind, watching the smoke clear off slowly as Bakugou landed near her as he was thrown off the black cloud.

His soles hissed against the rocky surface, and he was back on his feet sooner than she was. Smoke oozed from his hands, he cleaned a bead of sweat off his forehead, and Uraraka came to the ground-breaking realization that the sole hand he had used for the attack – because he was either that brash or he had something up his sleeve – was swollen, close to tearing part of the muscles apart. One or two more blasts and his fire show would be done for.

However, Uraraka was mesmerized and glad to see the core of the icy layer had been cracked to a very satisfying degree. She watched Bakugou walk to Todoroki's side. "Finish the job. That shield's gotta go out of the way."

And Todoroki dashed forward, charging his sword on fire and setting his side on embers with a menacing brow that promised justice– but Uraraka wondered, with a worried frown and a tilt to her lips, was this how the battle was supposed to go? Reportedly, thousands of lives had been lost in this battle, and the fierceness that Bakugou was showing this early in the battle clearly proved that something even worse laid behind… then, why was this feeling so easy right off the bat?

True, they couldn't attack with a nuking tactic this early because of the ice layer, yet she sensed that something was off with this battle. Not only the tactic, or the weird layout, or just how unexpected this battle was unfolding. No– it was the wind, the huffing pants of her leader and the feeling of the ground already meeting her body and burying her alive. She had been through this before.

There was a shattering noise in the distance, and millions of ice shards flew to their frontier that Todoroki tried to deflect, yet he only ended up protecting himself. Before they could even grace their bodies, Uraraka dived her arm forward in a swaying notion and called out a rocky barrier that covered them all in a shadow, and the ice shattered at the contact into smithereens. Afterwards, Uraraka took a step back and run forward, hitting the air with a powered kick that effortlessly destroyed the giant barrier.

The sorcerer panted, letting the coiling fire of her soul rise into her eyes, determination crowning her serious expression with a slight tilt of her eyebrows. The leader stared at her, speechless, as if he couldn't remember that she could pull trick like those in a second, but something else akin to admiration laid beneath that proud layer But there was no time for that.

"We only got one opportunity to destroy that _motherfucker_." hissed the blonde, discarding his cape and letting it float away of them. "And we're gonna do it, no doubt about it."

Uraraka was confident they would, but what reason did they have to be so sure on this outcome? She had her own confidence – after all, little parts of her trusted her fate on those hands of their – but what made them hold so dearly onto their little false, plastic and transparent lies? There was nothing behind Bakugou's heart, the man that laid behind his eyes long dead when they entered this forsaken mountain.

In the end, there was nothing left for her in these people's hearts. What made her worry so much, then? "We gotta go for the kill and shatter that bastard to pieces, hear me? Give it all you got."

In cue, Todoroki's body was on fire again, Midoriya was suddenly wrapped in bright golden light and Bakugou had his hands steaming with nitroglycerin again, she could smell the sweat reeking from his skin. She, meanwhile, allowed her hands to be engulfed by the biggest of flames, let it escalate to her arms, but held it there. Fire and light crackled in silence as RampAge roared in the distance. The mysterious light shone through the ice barrier.

Bakugou pushed a foot behind. "Ready?" his three peers nodded, letting their magic shine a bit brighter. " _Let's fucking go_!"

Their confidence somehow made her think that, who knows, maybe they could beat him in one go now that they were enoughly charged up. After all, she didn't know how the other battles had unfolded, so she just let herself run free towards Bakugou, trailing close behind Midoriya as the fire tickled her jaw, tainting her eyes in orange as fire tore the skin of her heart. It was getting warmer, hotter, brighter, until all Uraraka could see was the hopeful sun shining behind their enemy.

The four of them jumped with pained screams of power, unleashing havoc and destruction all at once: Midoriya's power giving RampAge an incredible hit that made it stumble, Bakugou's biggest explosion again shining and Todoroki and Uraraka's gale of fire that covered the whole monster and squeezed it in unfathomable heat that then imploded to only release all the tension with a wave of explosions that sent the whole team back to their places.

The four landed in scattered positions across the battlefield, landing with a roll that scraped their skin and gave them a sensation of feeling, again, motionless bodies resting the unleash off. The support team was immediately by their side, casting spells that Bakugou rejected once he could see again. He didn't even manage to stand up, knowing his hands were done for the day, but his confident smirk showed that he wouldn't need them, either. "Get that trash off me, the battle's fucking over."

Uraraka heard him from a few meters away and actually _believed_ him. She... she actually believed him when she knew better than anyone that she had zero reasons to trust his words, knowing them to be feeble, desperate and most of the times, devoid of meaning. Yet, she believed him when he said it was over, when he tried to assure his people that this… short fight had been it, just a show of lights, piece of cake.

But Uraraka knew, deep inside, that he was wrong If experience had taught her anything was to never swear by him, never stick to his beliefs, and clutch to her own heart lest he dared break it. With a wince, Uraraka stroked the gravel under her hands, let it dig into her bruised skin, and knelt to see the smoke clear up with a frown. The light threw streaks into the ground like truth being shed into a crowd of bunched lies, tangled together and twisted in the sole hand of the maniac that laid behind her, speechless at was what to come.

That was probably the reason why only her got the guts to get up and face the enemy, wind blowing on her hair and clothes as she stared at RampAge's standing form, wrecked yet still standing, as if no years or harm had come on it. Silence accompanied her stare, frowning at the view in front of her: the shadow of a long lost enemy, one that seemed unbeatable, yet she knew better than what they all could see. In fact, it was the reason why she was starting to let the cowl do its work– because at the end of the day, in the end of this story, she was the one who was right all along.

"What the FUCK!" let Bakugou out, struggling to stand up. He sure hadn't stored any stamina in case they needed another attack, but everyone knew that he was done for the day. Impossible to think, but after such devastating attacks with such short preparation, he had ran out of fuel. The leader had made a tremendous miscalculation. "How can that fucker still be…" Asui carefully tried to take care of his right hand, yet it seemed almost beyond repair at this point, his skin ragged and almost torn. " _FUCK_!"

"I don't know, but" Midoriya stood up with care, aware of some small broken bones after such tremendous fall, not to mention the wound to their pride after their attack had had such little effect. Was it the technique, did it lack power, was it too little? they would never know unless they tried… once again! The leader let his ability fill his body with power, charging him up again. He smiled bravely at his peer, who frowned yet nodded in agreement. "we're going to take him down!"

Todoroki stood up once again, chuckling at the green-haired leader and starting to remember why he had become such a good leader to start with. He started another fire once again, but the lights were desperately higher than they should. If the man was reeled in by some inner dispute or just determination, he didn't show: yet the frown in his eyes and the snarl of his lips… it was a tell-tale proof. "Yaoyorozu, we'll need force support."

He didn't even need to look behind him, Todoroki knew Yaoyorozu had already charged up crazy weapons for them to use as backups. He smiled through the pain when he heard a match be lit– she was _that_ dependable. "Leave it to us!"

And despite having his powers mostly rendered useless and having the balances make him the weakest member of the attacking warriors, Bakugou refused to stay behind. "We're gonna crush some ass today."

Before taking another tentative pose for another run, the blonde took some seconds to stare at Uraraka's stone face, who had said zero words whatsoever on this matter despite having probably one of the highest hands ever. He grunted, ignoring the way she seemed impassive at the prospect of attacking til they gave up, because he didn't fucking care– except that he did, deep inside, but his ire wouldn't let him see otherwise until the lights died. "Once again, go!"

A beat of silence, then steps marching forward and then breaking into an aimless run, pointing all their focus on RampAge and feeling their hearts soar in pride when the motherfucker tilted a little to the left. Bakugou smirked in his run, not letting the blatant pain in his hands hinder his pride and even hurried his feet to go faster, faster, and just _faster_ to blast that nuisance into the oblivion he had been invited to ages and ages ago. But he missed to watch after one single detail.

While they were running, Uraraka took a sharp turn to the right and started climbing up the walls of the cave, her eyes on a small platform carved into the walls of the cave and only urging her screaming body to go faster despite the blisters, despite the numbness, despite it desperately wanting to give up. But she refused. Over and over, as the rockes stabbed her fingers and her boots slipped on the steps, the squared her jaw and tried again– for this was her destiny, the one she was meant to live, the one she would have and the one she'd fucking fight for.

After reaching the top, Uraraka called out rush of wint to knock her forward, giving her the impulse for a faster run and reduced her own gravity pull, her race becoming a much faster one than the one deep below her feet. Uraraka was basically flying towards RampAge at this time, diving forward from a wall of the cave and unnaturally sniffing ever so slightly as the cold bit in her face, yet her body was ready for everything. Absolutely _everything_.

Panting, and even before she could even hesitate, Uraraka took a turn when she was at RampAge's level– and it all occurred in such painful slow motion that Uraraka couldn't help but even feel relieved that this was going to happen, and embraced herself for the ride that was about to come. Her feet trudged across the narrow passage and stopped for a second, catching her breath.

Then, without further ado, she fisted her hands and constricted her muscles, her body starting to be consumed by fires as they not only took over her arms, but also licked at her feet, her legs, her stomach, and it didn't take much more until she herself became aliment for the fire to destroy, the ends of her hair catching on the embers as her eyes glowed in a misty shade of burning, angry and livid red, ticking down the seconds before it all bursted– and she _jumped_ , soared across the sky of the mountain in zero gravity as fire surrounded her body, consumed her heart and ended up consuming… _her_ , as well.

Fire was all around her, all she could see, all she could feel, what she had become– this was what she was getting, what she wanted, what she considered to be… _a happy ending_.

Bakugou and his mates obviously noticed the blaring orange and red above of them, and he pushed them all to a sudden stop. "Hold it, what the shit is that!?"

And then, Uraraka closed her eyes. Her body was wise, and noticed the comfortable heat leaving her, cold and ice starting to ever so slowly creep into the corners of her body, and she knew she was running out of time, she had to do something or all these weeks, all these months, all these years and… everything suddenly came down to _this_ , this very sole moment. Her feet were in the air, her body becoming an incandescent flame, aware of what she had to do.

Uraraka breathed in deep, finally unleashing all the tremendous heat she had been hiding under the cloak, concealed inside her body, and an enormous planet of fire and hell orbited around her frail body that had suddenly created such magnificent blast, tenths and tenths times bigger than herself, that it left everyone in the battlefield speechless. But there was one person who watched this scene unfold with, for once, his heart in the clutches of his weakened, broken hands.

Thus, Uraraka did what she had to. Right before her fire cannon reached its peak, she deactivated her floating. "Borrow the power…" mumbled she, feeling the gravity laws slam into her like a mountain crumbling under a natural disaster, and her body spiralled down and down and down like a meteorite, and suddenly, she couldn't see who she was anymore, feeling death's icy grip knock on her doors. " _...and give it back to the light_!"

And her body fell like an asteroid crashing against a unshielded planet, crashing against RampAge like a fucking tsunami with a loud, deaf and intense thud of power that released onto the ground, waking up a sea of dirt and wind and knocking everyone off their feet as the fire collided with the ice, broke it into miserable pieces and shone brighter than the sun outside, than a star, filling the mountain before releasing a devastating explosion that provoked a mild earthquake under everyone's feet.

A second later, there was rubble and a loud crash in the distance, blasting into the mountain's side like a shooting star, then a fallen titan stumbling on its place and screaming for mercy before falling into the ditch it had come from, its cries drowned out by the abyss that closed its claws on him and finally gave the monster its deserved end.

There was a rush of forced silence as the rubble and the fog after the crash started clearing up, all accompanied with a fizz of hushed tranquility after the small symphony of chaos that woman had orchestrated, such unquenchable curiosity filling him that it took him a whole second to realize what had just happened一 and when Bakugou did, when the dust finally gave birth to the light of the aftermath, what he would find concealed by the debris made his breath hitch, his eyes widen, and his throat let out a heartrending cry of despair, breathing her name like a chant before getting up.

But before he could get anywhere, the earth under his feet shook violently for a small moment. He sharply turned to face a panicking Midoriya. "Seal that drift before that fucker gets anywhere!"

The green-haired took a step forward, but the look of utter horror in Bakugou's eyes, something so unique to see and too unusual to start being a good thing一 he took a step back, frozen. "Baku-"

"I said you fucking seal the damn drift already!" screamed the blonde, turning heel a second after to run, run and run desperately towards the pile of rubble on the side of the battlefield, wishing to already see what was inside一 but at the same time just wanting, for once in his life, to just run away, to save the trouble of seeing something that would break his heart, of seeing something he had grown to care about be shattered before his eyes without him being able to do a single damn thing一

Bakugou clenched his jaw tightly, screwing his eyes shut for a moment as the piles of rocks only seemed to grow in size, the air hot and making him start to choke both in emotion and lack of air, his throat constricted in such a tight raspy knot that it was desperately difficult to breath in this silly run that, unbeknownst to him, would change his life forever. His head was already searching for immediate answers that would quench his anxiety, yet nothing had really prepared him for what he was about to find in the middle of the broken light, air blowing peacefully, and birds singing outside.

This was not what was supposed to happen. He never asked for this一 for whatever bullshit this was.

 _He had never asked for this_.

"Uraraka!" no answer, just the tattering of rocks rolling down the piles as he moved them around, searching for her body. "Fucking hell, answer me! _Answer me_!

But he found nothing. No blood oozing from the pile, no coughs, no berating from her for even doubting of her health一 for the first time in his life, he was met with silence from _her_ , from the woman that had sworn to never give up on him, to always care, to keep on smiling, one he had only pushed away, given enough hints to keep her by so selfishly that he never realized, until now, how much of his icy heart had ended up landing into her waiting hands.

Then, he saw brown. Broken strands, caked mud, and then a patch of skin. Seeing this, Bakugou could only breathe out her name in a lied, foolish relief. " _Uraraka_. Thank fucking god一" he chuckled weakly, as if trying to keep the candle of his personality alive against the winding truth. "your ass is ok, regardless I would ha一"

A lone rock rolled to his feet, clearing the way and letting the man see what had truly happened in front of his eyes when she launched herself so recklessly against his mortal enemy, what she had done to herself in the process 一 what _he_ had done, too 一 and was viscerally mortified at the heart-wrenching image, drowning out the steps of his peers rushing to his and Midoriya's aid. But there was nothing that could be done.

Deep inside, he knew it was too late. Looking into her dead, crystal eyes, he knew it was too fucking late. A meek sob escaped his lips. "URARAKA!"

Bakugou shoved the rocks out of the way, wanted to make them explode into pieces to stop hindering his stubborn march into the arms of heartbreak and tragedy, but when he had her near, he was already tasting the bittersweet flavor of irony, of seeing the unmovable object of his life be crushed at the seams of fate. His steps were staggered, arrhythmic, hesitant, a crawl. When he has her in front of him, body next to body and eyes staring into others 一 hers weren't staring back. In fact, they never would again 一 something snapped inside of him, slowly, meaningless words of his being overlapped by the various speeches of hers.

"W-Wake up." ordered he. Trying to maintain his pride, his honor, yet when she didn't answer back like she always would, his world came falling down. His knees bubkled to the ground, but he made no sound of recognition. Nor did he move against his feelings like he always would一 above all against her. He now understood why. "Wake up, Uraraka."

He had always told her to stop fighting. Why was she complying now, of all times? This wasn't what he wanted.

Bakugou made his way to her on his knees in a pitiful version of the man he had always pretended to be, and held her dead gaze for two seconds before clenching his lids shut. "F-For fuck's sake…" his shoulders trembled, then his hands came to hold the burnt edges of her frost-bitten cowl. He had held her like this so many times, and the sole notion only made it hurt even more. "W-Wake up! It's a fuckung command now!"

But she didn't. Her body had a thin layer of frost all over her skin and clothes, arms coated in glassy ice and her lips blue, parted. Her skin was sickeningly pale, so fucking cold under his now tender, warm touch, when she had always been the one to smile it off and grant him the sunshine he had craved, very deep inside. Hypothermia has frozen her over, rendered her into a souless machine that had killed the enemy, yet taken something he had learned to treasure away.

The sweet of success and release had lured her away from his reaching hands, and before he knew it, Uraraka had walked away into the light.

"What the fuck do you think…" he almost hesitated, but his heart was beating too out of control to notice, his head had been completely thrown into havoc the moment she took a step back from him. The moment she walked away, he had opened his arms.

And ever so devotedly, letting his inner feelings shine, Bakugou took her forearms, covered her with his cape and cradled her body to his chest. "... that you are fucking doing, angelface?"

All he was met with was silence, her heart frozen over as the land he came to know burned down to the ground. His anger soared, his skin hurt like needles the more her body got cold, and the shell of a broken man howled to the sun with a scream full of anguish and pain, tremendous feelings coming into the golden lights that had received this sorcerer in the cruelest way possible: defeating the enemy that nor him or his mother had been to.

" _Why_." murmured he into her snowy hair, closing his eyes even tighter as her arms fell limp to the ground. The shelter of the rocky barricade didn't drown the steps coming towards them. "Why… of all people… you fucking had to make me feel this way…"

Someone stepped near them. A low quake reverberated from under them. "Bakugou, we gott-" Asui allowed her voice to trail off as she made out the pale, blueish face of her friend. "it can't… what-"

Bakugou's gasp for air interrupted her own shock. "Tell me you can help her… I'm fucking begging you…"

Seeing this stale, stone carved man be so affected by such image, Asui didn't waste any time and jumped down to Uraraka's side, taking the pulse that Bakugou had forgotten to, too grief-stricken to bother. Asui let out a sigh, but her hands trembled. "She's… freezing."

Bakugou's brow knit, then he looked down at the body he had secured in his arms. "Freezing?"

"She must have given up her body temperature for that attack… and her body is now responding to that loss." explained the sorcerer in a hushed voice, staring at the body in pure disbelief. And seeing Bakugou this affected… she didn't know what to feel. "She's not dead but… she's almost over the edge."

"Can we-"

" _No_." answered Asui, taking a hand to her mouth as sadness ran over her pupils, shattering Bakugou's left patience as the remaining ripples of the earthquake started rising beneath them. "There's nothing we can do… she's _gone_."

That was the first and last moment Asui saw something literally break inside of him, turning his head to the dying sorcerer in his arms, one he had tucked so securely _now_ when he had had so many moments to do so, so many moments to fix this relationship and all he had done was beat her to the ground when she was a step too close from throwing him away, a breath away from his heart, and left her in a bloody mess in the middle of the ground.

Eventually, he got what he deserved. He knew, deep inside, he never deserved her kindness一 _hell_ , he told her countless times, that he didn't need it, that he didn't want it, but she never fucking gave up, kept on pushing until she had made a big crack, and with her absence, it turns out the key to his heart was broken, and now all he had was the shambles of a star, crossing the galaxies until, like he had wished for vocally many times, she was consumed and faded into the broken light.

Turns out he didn't know what feeling was until he lost her.

"It can't be…" whimpered Bakugou, looking at her once again but only regretting his decision as small spikes of ice surfaced from her chest, and Asui quickly started wrapping her in blankets to make the process stop一 yet, Bakugou hugged her close and let himself feel her scent waft around him, despite his body yelling at him to push her frozen corpse from his cooling body. "This can't be happening…"

The earthquake under their feet started cracking faster and in a more intense way, making the drift where RampAge was buried start to widen, and a shimmer of light was seen in the background before Bakugou tightened his grip on her and craned his head to the heavens above.

" _THIS CAN'T BE FUCKING HAPPENING!_ "

And with a small scream from the other leader, a golden, blinding light washed over the mountain as the broken leader held her to his chest one last time, the last thing heard being his chokes and chants of her name before everything faded away for a moment.

In the end, they had won. In the end, this was their happily ever after, washed over golden light and stepping forward一 sans Uraraka.

* * *

It had been ten days ever since the incident. Exactly ten days ever since. And Bakugou hadn't been allowed into her room just yet.

Admittedly, he wasn't in the best mental condition to do so. In fact, he probably was in the worst condition possible to pay her a visit. Everyone could see that he was still steeming too much anger to be held in for so long until he snapped at her一 despite the fact that, theoretically, there was no _her_ anymore, because she was gone and everyone but him had accepted this reality the moment they saw her being carried away.

And it was such a strange thing to witness, seeing Bakugou stay silent more than an hour without snapping at anyone. To be fair, the guild had gone silent ever since she had been gone, because the pain was still there despite her being一 having been a new addition to the guild, but perhaps that was what made it all more saddening, that they never got to help her with her amnesia, that no one ever got to see the truest colors she wore and for how longer she could shine. Or, perhaps, there was something else to it, the familiarity of the situation and how it seemed like she had been there all their lives.

Everyone had learned to accept fate like it had been handed to them, not even budging for a few days before everyone started to fall into pace again with life, and raised their heads to face the music and go on. It took some more than it took others, but everyone found strength to fight back and start recovering. After all, that was the way Uraraka would have wanted it.

Everyone tried to move forward. Everyone, sans Bakugou.

Because ever since then, he hadn't found the backbone to fight against the air around him, or bark at anybody who tried to comfort him一 to some, it would seem like by being silent and motionless he was accepting the hugs and condolences, as if she had meant anything to him. Deep inside though, everyone knew that what they had seen that day would be buried inside of them to never be brought up again.

But the image still stuck to them, and it was hard to get over it. Again, it was as if she had been there from day one: her smile plaguing the corridors, the edges of each table, the wilting sunflowers seemingly withering over the emptiness of a full room. Hell, even Kaminari was learning to eat his soup for her sake in an oath of respect, and Jack had somehow found solace in reading her books for the sake of knowing what had exactly went through her mind. Corrosive much, yet she felt it was necessary for her to move on, to stop hearing dauntless steps plaguing the corridors as if she was still there.

Yaoyorozu had grown a bit too shy, and Todoroki had maybe shrunk over this. Everyone had taken a blow because of this, but Bakugou… it was as if he was alone, as if he was ignoring the fact that the world was still spinning, that there were many other people who needed him and that he could find somebody like her sooner or later一 but he knew best, with gritted teeth and ghost tears plagging his eyes, that it wasn''t true. Because there was no one like her who was so overly stupid to chase after him and then turn back when they were so close to perfection.

But they weren't perfect. Scratch that. She probably was, and inside, he knew it was him who did it all wrong. While he would be all mighty outside, his heart had developed a tender layer of humbleness that she had sown ever so slowly into him一 it was maybe what made it so hard to move on: that no matter where he went, a part of her and her smile was still imprinted in his mind.

So the point still prevailed: he wasn't to be allowed into her room, let alone on his own. He had asked and even demanded for it since it was _his_ guild, _his_ teammate, and he had the right to see her because damn it, only he knew her best. However, he had always been met with a gentle hand 一 he wasn't used to the gentleness he never gave being given to him, when the only one to be gentle to him yet unbreakable had been _her_ 一 and he never took it lightly.

Above all, that pitiful smile and then, always and always a frown of concern. They'd always say it was for his welfare, that he couldn't see her yet because he'd only end up hurting himself because actually seeing her like this meant processing everything, out of the chaotic battlefield. Bullshit he called一 he had seen her first and had dealt with the trauma perfectly fine, what would happen if he saw her once and for all?

Maybe it would even be good for him.

Of course it would.

Because there would be no ice, no blood, as if she was asleep! And he continued with that delirious contentment of obliviousness, deceit and blindness, turning his eyes to a side and letting that mindset carry his feet to the corridor, down the stairs, through another dark, cold corridor that no light step had stepped on一 not the step and the person he _wanted_ to, at least 一 and reached her wooden door.

He clutched the fabric of his pants and bunched them between the gaps of his fingers. Bakugou took a deep breath, and let the silence soak him whole for, after all, this was all he would be met with whenever he asked or screamed, and he had to get used to that. After all, wasn't that silence, the lack of her voice, what had dragged him down so much?

He knocked on the door and immediately regretted that. It felt as if he was staggering on a pole, across a deep valley and a river of failed choices, and just by knowing that he was stupid because no one would answer一 _fuck_ , this was gonna be harder than he considered.

He even contempted the idea of Midoriya being right.

He suddenly didn't even consider it anymore.

With that, Bakugou turned the knob, as if to not disturb her, and swung the door open. The orange light of sunset bathed the cold room in an uncharacteristic warm light, making it feel inhabited and cozy, but he knew better than that. The curtains blew and slapped against the small couch on a corner, against the pristine window panes that glimmered on the dying sun.

But when Bakugou slowly let his eyes wander to the bed to the right side of the room, he was greeted with an empty mattress.

She was gone.

"What the-" muttered Bakugou, frantically looking everywhere his eyes reached as the image of her empty bed, as if it was a freshly opened tomb, greeted him. It was such a blaring scenography that he had, at some point turn his eyes back from the bed to look out the window. "Who- what the hell!"

After two seconds of letting his impatience grow, Bakugou's heart started thumping against his ribcage, all grief and torment pushed aside for the time being for the sake of the ire building up inside of him, making it hard to distinguish whose room this was now as he made his way out of the door, screaming at the top of his lungs as he almost slammed the door off its hinges.

"SOMEONE, COME FUCKING _HERE_!" was heard in the distance from the empty room, a comfortable breeze pushing in as he was gone. "WHO THE FUCK TOOK URARAKA? _WHERE THE HELL IS SHE_?"

* * *

A figure stood at the cliff, looking over the sleeping town in silence. Her cape flickered with the western wind, the sun setting behind the mountains as a playful wind toyed with the hem of her hoodie in silence. The figure reached to tug it down a little, then looked down at the houses below her feet with a thoughtful expression.

An eagle circled the air above, flying around for some minutes before diving into its owner with unkeen grace and landing on her shoulder. It nuzzled her cheek through the cloak, she lovingly stroked him back, almost smiling with a finger under its chin. After that, there was a gap of silence that she broke with a solemn face of remorse. "It was good while it lasted." however, a tiny twinkle of joy appeared in her eyes, and a tear dared spill down her cheek. There was the ghost of a smile in her face. "but we must say goodbye for now."

She had to be strong, keep pushing on until she finally discovered what lay at the other side of this broken mountain. For this, she pushed her fears aside, knew that if no one would help her move the mountain to her side, perhaps she'd have to climb it up alone.

" _Fairy_ ," called a voice in the distance, and when she looked back, she saw her future peer looking at her with impatience, arms closed as he stood before the path to the desert. "we got no time to waste."

She nodded, face adopting a very familiar determined frown as she stared back at Shinsou with the very same fiery bravery as always. The brunette dedicated the ghost town a last glance, and then urged her eagle to look forward as she adjusted her hoodie on her head, throwing it over her eyes and whipping her cape over the sleeping, silent village that rested underneath her step, faded into orange. "Let's get going, Edgar."

And Uraraka walked away into the sunset, the hands of her friends holding her together fading into the warm, thin air.

" _We gotta get ready for the final match._ "


	6. Č h a pt er 1 5

**[A/N]: -** wakes up from coffin- uuuuuh wtf I HAVE BEEN SO GONEEE IM SOOOORRYYYYYYY 3 Uni got me, emotional shit got me but! I promise to update a bit earlier next time! Please enjoy this, and sorry for the delay!

* * *

Pain and numbness were all she could feel, taste, and make out in the blatant light that stabbed her eyes as her and her companion walked into the desert. Her eyes were somewhat dull despite focused, skin dimly pale after weeks, months, maybe years of isolation. She lost track ages ago— time never seemed to matter when you felt alone, encased.

Her eyes shimmered anew under the sunlight, her boots digging into the supple sand of the golden, dry area. A narrow, faded road wafted into view, and they took a sharp turn to follow it in direction of the . The paper in her hand slapped the wind that rushed under it, and the girl looked at it again in doubt when a small road came into view, coated in sand.

The duo reached a point where the girl had to narrow her eyes into the map, and turn to the right.

"Fairy," the tall man walked barely an inch behind her, peering down with curiosity before looking up again, seeing mountains appear in the distance. "you sure this is the right direction?"

The brunette stopped in her tracks, standing a step away from him. Wind blew sand around them in what seemed to be an approaching sandstorm, but they wouldn't fret about that now. They had more important issues to take care of. Uraraka tugged down at her hoodie to cover her eyes so sand wouldn't sprinkle into them, and cocked her head in the previous direction. "The mountains around there make it pretty obvious we're reaching our region."

Shinsou whipped his head around matter-o'-factly, then stepped to stand near her again. "Not like there aren't any mountains whatsoever." he unbuttoned his cowl a little, and frowned at the bleak desert around them. "This place has been ransacked."

Uraraka hesitated a bit at this observation. While the map she had been given did say they had to go in that direction, the destroyed houses and approaching storm made it look like another test from their boss, but it was nothing they could confirm, nor lose time with. "I know." yet, she contemplated the thought a little. A little lizard emerged from a dump of sand, and climbed up a house's crumbled pillars. "We have to keep going, though. We got stuff to do."

Uraraka walked forward again, and her companion didn't take too long to follow behind. It wasn't very usual for her to take the lead, yet he allowed her to this time. There was a very mystifying glint to her eyes that morning and it didn't seem like she was going to stop walking any time soon. Not like he felt like doing anything right now, they had been walking for hours, days, who knows— just too much time.

"Whatever you say." they walked for a few seconds in silence, the sand dancing around them as they trudged along the old road. If he squinted, he could make out the shape of a small building, standing in the middle of the way. Then, there was a break between some mountains, probably a valley that led to their region. Only she knew the way after that. "Do you know what our plan is?"

Uraraka turned her head to meet his eyes, grimacing in distaste. "It's not that complicated…"

Shinsou nodded, yet crinkled his eyebrow a little in caution. "I know it is, but we can't mess up now if we wanna get to the truth." at this use of terminology, she kept her words in. It was still a very muddy ground to walk on and she wouldn't be getting used to it anytime soon. "That's the responsibility we were endowed with along with our profession."

Uraraka gulped, and remembered the prideful pin attached to her dress. In normal occassions, she knew no professional would carry such token. In fact, she didn't know anyone who did so, mostly because it meant a hinder strategic-wise, having your opponent know what class you belonged to. Regardless, she had grasped that pin for so long in desperation — for something to hold onto, to not cry and miss her roots, just to know who she was— and now here she was.

She peeked at Shinsou carefully, taking in the dark rings under his eyes and the several scars decorating his hands. "You look tired."

He didn't take her comment into consideration other than to remark his point. "The place we're going to has a hotel too." then, he shed a confident smile that would have put her on edge before, but now gave her a new kind of safety. "We may not have to pay after this."

She didn't give a reaction, yet Shinsou knew that by not doing so she was most likely agreeing and condoning it, yet her eyes remained content. Uraraka knew what she was getting into. She had always known so. Even in this dry desert though, she could hear some distant pitter-patter. There must have been a leak in one of those broken houses.

But, everything was empty, devoid of voices and laughter to fill the place. Her village had been full of laughter once, people brimming the paths and chattering among each other as trades, friendships and stories flourished. Time, while stuck and jumbled, still flowed and tangled between the people around her. Somehow, time seemed to have stopped here, turning this once habitat into a husk. _What had happened here?_

Without realizing, Uraraka had stopped in her tracks to examine a torn down big house, with a well full of vines and moss in front of it. It was familiar, somehow— not the actual place, but the ran down aspect of it and tense silence. It was cheerful before, she knew judging by how inhabited this had been— yet it seemed like this had been empty for a hundred years. It made her wonder…

"It's probably been a sandstorm. There seem to be tons around here." his clear voice spoke wisely, making her spin around to watch some currents spin sand around, and hit some broken walls. "Don't let this hold us up. Gotta keep going as you said."

Uraraka turned heel in the direction of the small building, which upon closer inspection seemed to be some kind of road hotel for merchants and travelers. It made her wonder what kind of people they'd have to deal with in the stage they were in, but pushed the thought aside to face this with optimism. Just as they neared the place, she heard loud chatter and something big breaking. That couldn't be good.

She turned the knob and stepped into the place with Shinsou on tow.

"How many damn times have I told ya to fucking give me the right room?" there was a cracking noise, then a grunt from somewhere in the room. "Fucking damn it, man!"

"That's not my sword, you cunt— give mine back!"

A glass full of beer flew across the air as Shinsou stepped into the crowded big bar, the door still open and letting light slip in.

"Motherfucker, what the hell is this shit for?"

"IT'S THE SHIT YOU ASKED FOR!"

"What the hell— you're GONNA PAY FOR THAT!"

It was all a damn madhouse seeing how people fought and ran around and about, and the pair of foreigners stared at the scene in wonder. It made Uraraka actually look back at the paper in her hand and then look up again. Shinsou scoffed at the barbarian scene before them and made his way in by pushing Uraraka aside quite rudely and walking between wiggling fighters. The girl looked up with a hand to her chest, dodging people as she went with meek apologies and graceful slow movements.

She had never been exposed to this kind of environment in the past, torn down furniture, fleshy man and lots of broken glass scattered around the floor. There was a big roof of glass at the top of the building, then several balconies from where some customers looked into the bar, screaming atrocities at the others from above. The ground was made of stone, the tables around the place were old and probably worn out from so much banter, probably done too often.

Uraraka didn't like this rowdy place. Judging by the boring look in her companion's face, he didn't seem to enjoy it either. She took a seat at a stool by Shinsou. "How are we going to get this done in such crowded space?"

Shinsou dug his elbow into the greenish wooden bar, waiting for a waiter to show up. "I got no idea, fairy. But if they get to see our faces from too close, we are over. So cover those cheeks a little, will you?"

The brunette squeaked before tugging the collar of her brown cloak up, it covering her mouth and almost her nose. The desert was pretty warm, but the movement and noise of the stuffed bar made those perks be a walk down the forest. "Again, maybe we could ask the bartender?"

Shinsou blinked at her as if she had said the most stupid idea ever, but a second later, it was gone as he realized that they had no better option than that. He looked forward again, bottles of countless beverages twinkled under the sun from above, through the big crystal ceiling. He nodded curtly, only making his striking resemblance to Aizawa all the more intense.

Just as her peer continued to ignore her blatant wonderous stare, it made her also realize how similar he was to Bakugou sometimes. It was almost earth-shattering to see him act so distant and heartless all the time, they looked like the same coin, yet seen from different sides. Also, be so handy in combat and still keep pressure down with that responsible vibe of their, dissociating from people and affection— but the main difference she had seen that had probably scared her the most was how _silent_ Shinsou was.

Admittedly, it had been something hard to get used to, him being so unspoken about things. It was always like she had to be on edge for whatever thing he would say, for it looked like he would always say something worth hearing every time he spoke up— which mind you, he did. But with time, the tension had somewhat toned down to him being a bit less silent and her catching up on his eyes and little hints. Now all they had was a pretty solid companionship, yet it was still tense.

Just as it was when she stared at him for answers like now, too tired to actually search for them on her own. Before long, the bartender appeared in front of them, cleaning a glass with a dampened cloth. The sneaking pair covered their faces almost instinctively. "Good afternoon. What's it gonna be today?"

Shinsou looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Coffee." when the bartender looked at the girl, Shinsou brushed her off. "Nothing for the lady. Thanks."

Strangely enough, the shut girl didn't budge at this, and the man went off to prepare his order in silence. When Uraraka was to speak again, a shadow rolled behind her. She didn't move an inch, nor did Shinsou, until they locked eyes to speak again. "Do you think he's here?"

The boy pressed a hand to his nape with an uneasy frown. "Don't think so, or else things would have been different."

The brunette nodded and looked around with a quirked eyebrow, feeling free to move again. "If you say so."

Some spoon clashes and a broken barrel of wine later, a china mug of coffee came to the sorcerers in the middle of that noisy, dirty bar. Shinsou acknowledged the drink with a nod and stirred it lazily with the spoon, aware of the bartender looking at them thoughtfully. "You two look familiar…" probably because they were hiding their faces. "are you two new to the region? Maybe pirates or something?"

The way this place was and seeing the scruffy aspect of the bartender, it had been pretty obvious this place was hosted by criminals and pirates. Needless to say anyone with a good pair for eyes could come to think Shinsou and Uraraka were pirates, they were blending in with them after all. What else could they be doing there?

"I'm sorry to tell you that's not anyone's business but ours." Shinsou's voice was a notch too stern to Uraraka's liking, who gulped thickly and looked at him in slight panic from under the hoodie. Shinsou didn't pay attention to her in the slightest and continued glaring at the bartender carefully. Before long, the man gave up and left the pair to attend to his own affairs.

The brunette looked at her partner with a slight frown. "Stop being so blatant about us being on incognito." snapped the girl, looking to her sides. "We have to find our objective first."

The boy nodded, and Uraraka lay her elbows on the bar, then looked to her side. There were a bunch of shady men cheering a few meters away from her stool, and when they noticed her stare, she smoothly turned to look at the drinks before her. She could see some other groups from the mirror that hung behind the drink shelves, so she didn't bother to turn again. Some tables were getting rowdy and excited with the passby of minutes, yet she felt as out of place as she had before. Some tables had already turned to look at them in their silent observation, seeing the small intercourse between Shinsou and the barman.

Something was going on here if people were observing them through the banter and noise.

"Hey." called she lowly, making Shinsou snap back into attention, looking forward. Not letting people know they were whispering so secretly between each other was probably the best idea. "They know what's up."

"You think so?"

The sorcerer nodded curtly, entwining her fingers under her nose. She focused her vision on the mirror, on a group of four that was staring at them. "It's weird for such a scruffy group to be staring at us so intently. We don't really stand out that much, do we?"

It was probably weird to see a little girl in a place like this, so dusty and crowded with men that were anything but nice, charming or simply bearable. To their credit, Uraraka had never been in a situation like this, so she didn't quite know how to behave other than the basics: don't be noisy and oblivious, keep it low and don't be a show-off. Keeping your profile low on undercover missions was probably the only thing Uraraka knew how to do.

But handling a mob of muscular, gross and rude pirates, mercenaries and whatnot was a completely different story.

Her eyes scanned the area briefly, combing quickly through every crane of the tables and men, and became increasingly aware that another table was turning to look at them. Despite how the situation was going downhill, no brakes or warnings, Uraraka couldn't find anyone flashy enough that could tell them who the owner was, or just anyone who seemed clean enough to carry the wealth this place seemed to require. There were rooms up there, plants, expensive drinks. This place was dirty, but it was by no means a cheap investment.

Panning through the messy, there was only one person left they could trust. Shinsou eyed him when Uraraka did, and whistled loudly. It could probably be heard from the rooms of the establishment.

The bartender left his chat with some other customers, and neared them. Uraraka was probably the only one to notice how the general banter in the tavern lowered notch by notch, almost to a point that it became just a hushed murmur. It was then when she became painstakingly aware that all eyes were on her and Shinsou, and a cold sweat ran down her spine.

"Excuse me sir, we are searching for the owner of this establishment." his voice was awfully loud among the big place. It filled the room despite the hoarseness it carried. "Do you happen to know where they are?"

The bartender had been cleaning a glass all the time, but stopped this time after hearing this. His head lowered a little, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "The owner, you say? May I know what for?"

If there was any noise in the room before this, it suddenly died down to a gust of air wheezing through the room. Uraraka's nails tapped against the counter in anxiety, biting her lip under her hoodie as if in shame— but she was mortified to be observed this begrudgingly, probably seeing through the act and knowing they were no criminals, someone who could peek their nose in and ruin whatever shady business they had here— exactly the reason why they were there.

The customers and the bartender were all a gang. They had been busted all along. It had been an act. Uraraka paled, hearing chairs scrape out of their tables, making something sink in deep, settling and coiling in her gut dangerously slow, cold and nasty, piercing through her sensitive skin.

Knowing Shinsou, he had probably caught on the act long before she had, yet he decided to persevere and still ask. "We have some business to talk about with them. Could we please speak to them?"

The man rested the glass on the counter, gingerly as if to not break it, and slanted his hands on the counter. "I'm afraid that won't be possible, sir."

A moment passed, maybe two, and there was a shake in the counter before the glass before them shattered to pieces soundly, scattering in the direction of the barman and piercing his ragged shirt under Uraraka's insistent stare, her hands curled into a fist and her nose scrunched in concentration. More chairs scraped out of place, and Shinsou got up from his seat.

He heard steps coming in their direction. "We won't ask twice: can we please see this man?"

A bottle shattered in the distance, among with a cackle of laughter from one of the men. "We aren't accepting any official meetings as of now. Please," and suddenly, from the corner of his eye, the man drew out a butchering knife, shining to view under the milky sunlight. Shinsou's face was shrunk to a sneer. " _leave_."

At the sound of the knife being drawn, Uraraka heard a compass of steps and sly laughter booming across, reaching her ears and making her finally stand up from her stool and kick it upside down with her foot. "You all are so damn _disgusting_!"

With a swipe of her hand, Uraraka summoned a gale of wind that knocked out half of the building's rooms, a deaf noise rocketing across the establishment and knocking a few customers out and to the ground, blowing on Uraraka's cloak while she held onto the hoodie of her uniform. Bouquets of holes adorned the superior halls of the building, inner balconies destroyed and a corner of it all collapsing to spare debris.

Some of the people who were able to pick themselves up again looked at her in disbelief, and urged the mage to stare at the crowd in focus, the barman behind them already cornered to the shelves of drinks. "We won't ask again." spoke the girl lowly. "Do as we ask, or we will start an ugly fight."

The dust and rubble cleared, giving Uraraka full view of some of the men actually advancing again, to which she wiped a bead of dirt off her cheek. There were a handful of them still standing, broken bottles ready to probably pierce her guts out, and Uraraka wondered how could it be that this gang was so resilient, yet their boss was a complete coward squirming behind the counter.

"Fairy." the girl turned to face Shinsou, who had his staff ready to use in case things got noisy. "We can't beat around the bush much, and we gotta control this guy." his hand slanted on his nape, looking at her lazily in such a manner that it made her feel trusted. It was a feeling still so new to her, yet it made her heart race wildly. "If you wanna do something, be quick about it."

The girl let out a dashing smile, thankful for the amount of faith he seemed to have in her. "You got it!"

The girl slammed her hand on the wooden floor, and sprouts of wild nature and roots sprouted from under the ground, tangling around the pillars of the building and squeezing them so hard parts of the ceiling started collapsing, making people run away in fear while chanting curses in their direction. Others stayed to see the scenario, and got tangled in the roots of the growing wilderness.

The very few that got through it were charging at Uraraka with admirable speed, much to her chagrin. Muttering a small word, Uraraka placed two fingers of her right hand under her nose in focus, and after a flash of light from her soft eyes, she dashed after them, hands wrapped in lightning as her hands dived for straight strikes, dodging between the big men at the speed of light.

"H-How the hell…" mumbled the boss from under his hiding spot, looking at her in deep fright. Her face was contorted into a deep grimace of pain. "Is she so fucking fast?"

Shinsou shed a smile at her domain in jinxed speed, seeing her appear everywhere and attack her opponents with the precision of a professional. "It's what we are trained for."

There was a deaf impact echo in the distance as Uraraka suplexed the man to the ground, him falling into an unconscious state but the brunette had never felt this alive, and sighed erratically at the short fight, yet so energy-consuming. Afterwards, she turned to him with an uncanny frown knitting her features. "Take him?"

Shinsou effortlessly hopped across the counter and grabbed the boss by the collar, raising him to his level. It dawned on him that the guy wasn't that impressive height-wise. Maybe it had been a rouse all along. " _Taken_." then, he eyed a small door behind them and nodded to it, making Uraraka nod back in coordination and rush to open it.

The office behind the doors was quaint and bleak: a desk, a chair Uraraka took to the center of the room, and a candle that flickered with the slam of the door. Shinsou tossed the man onto the chair, whereas Uraraka tied his hands to the poles of it. The boss wiggled uselessly, teeth gritted in frustration. "I don't fucking get it, who the fuck are you two!"

The girl united with Shinsou proudly, and despite the obvious height difference, they towered over the cowering man like two skyscrapers in a desert. Shadows covered most of their faces, making it more difficult for the man to find anything to hold onto. He took a step forward while she stayed back, and slapped a hand on the back of the chair, leaning carefully towards the man. "There is some business you've been doing around the Capital we wanna know about."

"Excuse me!?" bellowed he, unbelieving, as if he had been told an insulting joke, but it was obvious something was very wrong when they had had to wreck a whole building for him to spill the beans and reveal his identity. Whoever this man was, he was hiding something, and that something was going to be harder to get. "I don't know what the hell you two are looking for! I got my contacts in the Capital, true— but it ain't anything illegal!"

"Oh, yeah?" Uraraka's look turned stern as Shinsou leaned back from his towering. "Then why did your unsuspecting clients come attack us so suddenly, eh?"

The boss tried to fight against the ropes tied around his wrist, desperately wanting to be set free and only being able to burn his skin. He hissed in pain. "I don't give a fuck about those asses! They just come here for a hard drink and some people to fight! Do you think I would be as fucking obvious to host a place full of pirates in the middle of nowhere?"

Of course, he realized he had slipped that word all too quick, and when he looked up again, the two villains were looking at him skeptically. Uraraka craned her head to Shinsou. "Do it."

Before the man could question anything, Shinsou's eyes flashed in purple in the same way hers did earlier, and the man was thrown deeper into his chair as his eyes went blank. " _Gazapo_." Shinsou's voice echoed in the man's man, which seemed wider and just a black, empty wall he could no longer access to.

He had lost his ability to think straight the moment he saw that light, and screwed his eyes shut in a grimace of pain at the feeling of suddenly feeling like he had eyes everywhere looking at his body, observing every of his movements and tracking them. He fought against his invisible grip uselessly, grunting to himself as the uncomfortable feeling in ten fold. He wanted to think about how to get out of there, but nothing came to his mind. He was drawn to a blank.

"What the fuck have you done? What shit is this?"

Shinsou cleared his throat, looking at him in a dead stare. "From now on, for every lie you tell us, you will receive a little punishment. So you better keep it honest, or else. Got it?"

"What the fuck…" he shook his head to himself at how foolish he had been to be a coward and get pulled into a mess like this. His fingers curled to try and undo the ties, yet nothing happened. "Yeah, got it, whatever!"

At this, Shinsou smirked, and saw the man make a slight slump forward before he was back on the chair again, confirming that Shinsou had full control over him. Uraraka let him drive the situation while padding to the man, and crossing her arms in front of him— a gesture she didn't particularly like, but she had been taught to look tough when you were softer.

Uraraka and Shinsou had practiced this torture procedure— if it could be called that, as most of the people who knew what they were into would call it quits and confess after the second question left lied. She knew what to ask, how to behave, but the situation and the sudden responsibility never failed to surprise her.

Uraraka put her boot on the chair's edge, leaning down to the man just as Shinsou had done. But on the other hand, he had seen that kind of rash and unkind behavior before, and he had seen it reflect in her own persona too. Not what he liked best about her, considering how much of an ass that other leader was.

"Are you in any way related to the Jirou mafia business?"

Both men whipped their heads to her, one not expecting her to be so blunt and the other mentally telling her off for such impatience. But she succeeded in being assertive and authoritative, given the stutter of the man in his speech and the sweat that started forming in his skin, all noticed by Shinsou's eagle eye. "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm fucking n—!"

The boss let out a piercing screech that probably echoed all the way to the desert, seeing how the building was no more than decaying debris. He bended in twain, gasping for air as a malady spread all throughout his body, hitting him hard and slamming all its weight on him, almost rendering him motionless after a minute of pure agony. His blood was boiling, his head spinning, as if in a fever, lightheaded. His muscles constricted badly, a part of his leg surely snapped, and when he looked up to the two, there seemed to be no remorse in their glare.

"This power…" then it hit him. He knew who they fucking were. "it's can't fucking be! You two…!" panting, his eyes landed on Shinsou's dead ones. Uraraka didn't even flinch.

At this, his glare hardened. His partner took this as a hint to move forward. "Again, are you related to that mafia?"

He had experimented the slight bits of Shinsou's _Gazapo_ and he didn't want none of it again. Not that it mattered, he knew they would have more trouble around his area than they expected, and bit back a smirk. "Yes, I am." spoke he clearly, still hoarse from the spell's effects. "I got a bunch of contacts there."

Uraraka spoke next, following her role. "Then would you be able to provide us with the current location of its headquarters?"

The boss looked at Shinsou briefly before glancing up at her. The fact that he couldn't see their eyes was ever so troublesome. If only he could summon some magic and knock their hoodies off, he would at least get closure on their appearance. He could only see dark uniforms under the worn out cloaks, hers probably a long dress with golden ornaments, and his plain as his eyes, staring at his like a deadpan.

He sighed. "I could, but it ain't that easy as—" Shinsou frowned at him, and at the slight feel of pain tickling up from the back of head, he shook his head with a remorseful grimace. "Alright! It is! But what I mean is that I don't have the data here! Mafias like the Jirou family are constantly changing places to not stay idle. I know they are somewhere near the Capital— but I got no idea where, exactly."

It was a lie, partly. But Shinsou's spell didn't see through it, as it probably was true that they were in the area. While the sorcerer trusted his gut enough to know he was hiding something, he trusted his abilities more than that. But he was tired as hell, and decided to not pry further than that. They had fulfilled their mission, and could let this man off the hook now that they got this confirmation out of him. Their real mission started now.

The sorcerer let his enchanting drop, and Uraraka let out a sigh of relief. The man before them seemingly felt happy to be in control of his body again, comfortable in his own skin. "That was easier than I had expected."

Shinsou grunted, brushing his hair aside. "Yeah, but," he stomped a step forward and gave the chair a hard kick, making the man fall to the ground with a loud yelp and a rattle from the cracked furniture. Neither of the sorcerers wanted to pick him up, though Uraraka felt it was out of place. He leaned over him again. "you better not send your scum after us or we are coming after you, _got it_?"

The boss nodded eagerly, smile wobbly. "Y-yes, of course!"

"Good." he went around the chair and crouched to snap the ties open with his knife— because they may be undercover and rough, but that didn't mean they were gonna let a man rot in there. "Let's get going, fairy. It's getting late."

Uraraka nodded and followed him obediently, hearing the man curse and brush his wrists in astonishment. Feeling generous, she closed the door behind them so the man wouldn't get to see the horrible state of the building around them. Twisted the knob and done the deed, Uraraka found herself crashing with Shinsou's back, and when she staggered back, something pointy poked her back.

It took her two seconds to realize there was a whole crew of hidden rangers pointing at them with their bows and arrows from the broken in-balconies and cranes between the debris. They were being ambushed. The boss had known this all along, made Uraraka gulp down heavily as she was pushed to the center of the room.

It was intimidating, but she knew they wouldn't die out of this. Every one of their attackers pulled back from them, pointing their daggers and arrows at them. The sound of threads tensing only made the situation more tense, yet none of them were afraid of them. Their weapons were mid-tier, basics, and they would probably have no plan for them. One of them from the crew spoke up. "Any last words, fuckers?"

Shinsou only rose an eyebrow, and grabbed the collar of his uniform. He fake-fanned himself with it. "Well, yeah." he clarified, and then tugged at his cloak a bit stronger with a frown of severity. "It was fun while it lasted!"

Then, he discarded his cloak in the air, which transformed into a thick fog that spread to the rangers in the balconies while its owner went forward from under it— a wolf escaping from the scene, purple and black, growling before tackling one of the attackers and stomping over him for the exit, and as he tried to rush there, chaos ensued: arrows started flying at the escapist, panicking at how some were shocked at the transformation, but none of the arrows reached the wolf in time.

And as some of the arrows went after Shinsou, some were already pointing at Uraraka, who only held her hands up with a small smile before the threads snapped, and all of them pierced through her cloak, but only managed to hit a pile of mist as the owner disappeared under the raid, and the smallest of robins peaked from under the cloak on the ground, and she wobbled a little before fluttering her wings and flying right after Shinsou, successfully avoiding the arrow rain with her small size.

Uraraka flew fast after him and caught him running past the building. The robin landed on Shinsou's back before she recovered her original view in a flash, not able to hold her transformation any longer and fearful for Shinsou's safety on the opening. The wolf still went on running away from the hotel, and acknowledged her briefly by looking at her when she flung her legs to a side. "I couldn't hold it anymore, and I had no time to prepare an anchor like you did."

"Doesn't matter." managed to say Shinsou through puffs of air, and an arrow landed right by their side while running. They were novice rangers but they had one hell of an aim. "But you gotta do fucking something."

Despite their speed of escape, some rangers were still firing arrows at them from outside the building, and due to the transformation's stamina consumption. Uraraka frowned, grabbed Shinsou's fur for support and summoned an enchanting seal, which appeared right before her, aimed at the building. "Solar Flare, release!"

And a blast of light shot out from her hands and luminous seal before it hit the building and made it explode into fire and firecrackers with a white, deaf blast of power and preposterous lights, most probably having hit the zone where those mercenaries kept the weaponry and, most likely, powder from the cantines at the south. The blast from the explosion made sand rush up to them and the building came crashing down loudly, caught on fire and ashes from Uraraka's previous attacks.

After this, a gust of silence overcame them, only the wind accompanying their ride as they galloped away from the scene, carrying the information they needed and a bag of corpses behind them. Such a shame the boss hadn't played hooky with them and Uraraka hadn't asked about it, maybe he would be alive now.

Uraraka eased her legs on either side of the boy, and grabbed her hat as the hoodie of her cloak flew backwards. "We did it, hell yeah!" cheered Uraraka, adrenaline after such escape pulsating through her. Remains of the explosion still erupted from the war zone. "We must hurry forward, will you be able to last until we get there?"

"I'll do my best." mumbled Shinsou, grimacing in exhaustion, yet aware of their haste. This little escape had been a hold up, and they had no time to waste. "Let's push onwards."

The girl nodded once before craning her head to look at the mess they had caused to freely, seeing smoke come out of the ran down building, and couldn't help but feel a rush of guilt overcome her— but she pushed it down, yet felt it only piling up at the bottom of her gut. She had to accept it though, that no matter the remorse she felt for her ways, this was who she was now.

She couldn't look back anymore, and instead focused on the path ahead with no other thought on the matter.

In the distance, a few steps behind the big pile of rubbish, two people stood there, a woman and a man. "Who are those… _freaks_?" he clearly wasn't used to these antics, pointing at them with a shaking figure. "Did you see what they did!? How did they do that shit?"

The woman narrowed her eyes at the troublesome couple, stern concern embedded in her features. Midnight exhaled deeply, arms crossed, and watched them disappear in the horizon, eyes shimmering at the feminine figure. "Do not underestimate that little girl. That you just saw there…" her eyes glowered to an inch, growing darker.

"That's just a part of the Moon Fairy's power."

* * *

Shinsou had been able to revert back when they were nearing the end of the desert passage, mountains announcing their proximity to the road to the Capital's barriers. Trees were starting to surface from the ground after bushes, hearing the river that rounded the Capital and the small forests that littered the area. It was a fairly fresh air after the ruckus at the tavern and the haste at the runaway.

They stepped out of the driest part fast enough, and while the trees were still rather small, they could give enough shade under the blistering heat. Uraraka wiped a bead of sweat with her hoodie. "It sure has gotten hot. I thought it'd get a bit fresher being near the river." spoke she, which made total sense. The murmur of the stream was audible enough to give a sense of direction.

"The air is rather disturbed, though." it was something both had agreed on, and while it didn't provide a reason for the warmth of it all, it did make sense out of the tension in the air. "There must be a hunter raid going on somewhere around here." he eyes her knowingly. "Let's hope we don't crash with any of them."

Uraraka gulped in silent agreement. The sole word brought mixed feelings to her heart, seeing only red, golden, silver, and a terrible quench to her stomach, one she never enjoyed yet never found bad, either. It was then when her mind tried to tell her to move on— but her heart had fallen under the spell so fast and so hard she could no longer move past it, simply weave it into her heart, sew it and hope for the best.

Couldn't help but feel her heart wrench whenever they were mentioned— when _he_ was mentioned. She felt like she wanted to fucking cry, and she didn't know why. There was this feeling incrusted in her brain and heart, so painful yet addicting she couldn't help but wonder, what was going on behind her back, in the faraway village.

A part of her was curious and wanted to know. But her sense of duty kept her awake and hoping, one day, it would go away soon. "We should hurry to the Council and get this over with."

Her partner agreed, and they started making it there through the small patches of sand and the startings of the forest. While they skipped some rocks and cut through some troublesome bushes, they heard voices from somewhere on the lands. There must have been some guilds trying to make profits out of zone missions, making Uraraka gulp in sudden nervousness at who they could come across.

After how she had left things back at home, the thought of facing anyone related to her past still made her heart pulsate accelerated.

Out of the blue, a blob appeared from under the dry grounds before them, urging Uraraka to draw a hand in front of her partner to prevent him to step forward, and a creature started surging from the ground, sand slipping off its back, and he let out a grunt of disturbance, as if someone had come to wake it up from a deep slumber.

Uraraka had the thought that this creature was odd and different from the various ones she had encountered the zone, and drew her hands up with magic while Shinsou readied his staff, ready to attack— but a crimson figure blasted before them at the speed of light, a cloud of dust waking up and making the two travellers cover their heads with their cloaks, and sliced the creature in twain before it tilted, fell and shattered to the ground, then turning into a pile of sand.

From within the creature, a small share of golden nuggets could be made out from under the sand. Their mysterious man came to pick them up with a toothy grin, his back to them as he laughed heartily. Then, he turned to them happily, showing them the small chip. Only now did Uraraka realize the was face to face with the very own Kirishima, his new knives on his hip while he looked at them. Her breath hitched, suddenly realizing that if he was here… then the guild was here, too.

It would make her job more difficult, and the thought that someone could come help him made her whip her eyes around, paranoid and hysterical at the thought of anyone finding out her undercover identity.

"Damn, am I not thankful for this! My guild is looking for these, I didn't know there was a golem in such a random place." the other two stared at him dumbfounded, unsure of what to do. "Thanks a bunch!"

After packing his little treasure, he took the time to scan the figures' sudden tense appearance, and realized how dark and mysterious their clothes were: dark worn out cloaks, with dry stains on the tall one's and the other, though, was clean, but the way the small figure seemed to be staring at him through the shadow on their eyes was incredibly unsettling. It was so remarkable and strange his smile melted into a frown and a question rolling off his lips.

"And who the hell are you two?" asked he, keeping his tone as less accusatory as possible. "It's not time to be traveling around. Above all not with those shady cloaks on…"

The redhead quirked an eyebrow, and Uraraka was prompted to talk, yet she feared being recognized by her voice. So she only stayed idle, none of them moving as the redhead scrutinized their frames carefully, deeming them to be suspicious enough to be worth considering. The fact that they weren't saying a word made it darker to him, and he knew he had seen those kinds of clothes before.

Suddenly, he came to a quick conclusion that made him spin his knives in preparation for a possible fight. "Those clothes…" his scowl was knit further. "the Jirou family wears stuff similar to those."

Uraraka gasped in surprise at being related to such scummy business, making Kirishima shift and Shinsou take his staff out to take the redhead out. The purple-haired sorcerer launched at the hunter with all his might, making the ground beneath him shake and rise to knock him out, yet Kirishima dodged it and attempted to try and stab him, yet to no avail, as when he caught Shinsou slightly off guard, his knife sliced through the air, and his cloak hung from the knife. A small round stone rolled out of the mound.

Astonished, shocked, Kirishima stared at the cloth, unbelieving what he was seeing. "What the hell? Where did he even—?"

Shinsou appeared from behind and kicked him to the ground with a foot to his neck, and Kirishima fell down with the loudest of thuds, groaning in pain.

Her hand reached out to heal him, yet Shinsou stepped between them. He knew the redhead was much more capable that this, and assumed he must have been tired from the raid his guild was doing, and not attentive enough. If he had thought they were dangerous enough to belong to the Jirou family and still charged at them with all his might, he must have been a worthy, confident foe. It only made him lament he had missed a good fight.

Shinsou spun his staff around to point at him, and narrowed his eyes in distaste. "No one tries to attack us that easily, dumbass." his voice was hoarse enough to not be recognized. He bent down to pick his anchor up, and kept it in his pocket. "You better be ready for—"

Uraraka slanted her slim hand on his forearm, trying to draw the weapon down. Her head hung low, admitting the weakness and the weak bond she still felt to this man. The sorcerer shook her head sadly, and whispered a small " _Don't, please_." to her companion. There was no need to beat him up, this wasn't a part of their mission, there was no need to cause more damage.

In fact, it would be better of they got going now, and Shinsou admitted this with gritted teeth. "Whatever." Kirishima weakly released a sigh of relief, his hands unclenching. "Put him to sleep and let's get going, fairy. It's gonna get late."

Kirishima had no time to complain, as when he had the courage to speak, the smaller figure knelt down before him. Her hand caressed his head, brushed some spikes away from his face. It was… a warm hand, he knew no criminal would have those hands, so smooth and caring, looking at him in a concerned stare, one he could barely see through the shade of her hoodie.

But then, he caught a glimpse of brown, the blush of those cheeks he had commented the first day, the roundness of her face, and he realized, he had heard that nickname before—

His breath was stuck in his throat, but before he could speak once more, her hand stroked his mane once more, and he instantly fell asleep into a pleasant dream, eyes closed and cheek on the ground. Uraraka sighed in relief, and stood on her feet again. "Hurry up. We can't let things like these get in out way."

She caught up with him and they started walking again to the Capital, pace quickened and her mind troubled with the nagging feeling that her past was somewhere near her, and that she could absolutely do nothing about it. The weighing feeling only got heavier the more she walked away.

In the distance, Kirishima still slept for some minutes. Whenever he woke up, he wouldn't remember none of the events that had occurred.

* * *

Uraraka would have never expected the Capital to be this awfully peaceful this late in the afternoon. She had guessed that it was probably due to the hunting expedition going on at the outskirts of the town, but not even the Council's surroundings were jam-packed with people. When she had last come around here, it had been full of people talking about the central's lacking administration, but there was no one anymore.

It was weird. She felt weird being a place so oddly quiet like this. In fact, when she and Shinsou entered the building, they were met with an important lack of employees. Both blinked amusedly. "I'm guessing you were exaggerating when you said the employees here were suspiciously lazy, there's not even a single employee here to start with."

The girl blinked at the vacant scene, and looked to her right, where some sofas and a small glass table rested. There were remains of coffee and tea on it. She took one of the mugs, skeptical. "It's still warm, so there must have been someone here recently. There was activity here before we came in." she brought her hand to rub her jaw, a pout of thought. "Where has everyone gone, though? Will the general still be here?"

Shinsou looked around some more. "Well, whatever has happened here must have been important. There isn't a damn soul around here…"

The brunette gulped, a flash of recognition flashing through her eyes and mortifying her when Shinsou's purple tresses suddenly became a bit clearer, when his body became taller and he looked at her with that red, piercing glower of his she had grown fond of, somehow. It took her a moment to snap out of it and despite the sudden image only lasting for a second, the shudder ran down her spine in a trepidating slow manner.

Shinsou wasn't prone to swearing, but whenever he did, it would click on her the wrong way. She hated still being this dependant and weak. "Fairy, snap out of it."

A small blush crowned her plump cheeks and she stepped forward to meet him at the staircase. "Got it, sorry. Today must be catching up on me faster than usual."

"I'm still curious about how everyone is absent, and so suddenly. It's not like they should be out of work this soon either, considering how much work they had if what you said was true." the girl puffed her cheeks, and as they passed by the second floor, she peeked a little in search of anyone. There were some people gathered together, discussing things that probably related to administration— nothing of importance.

Uraraka skipped some steps to appear by Shinsou's side, following his trail of thought. "Weirdly enough, they are gone in such a important point of the day. By what master said, burglars and crime in general occur when evening is near. Could they be out on patrol?"

The sorcerer pondered the thought and deemed it to be the most logical one. "It's what makes most sense to me, but I can't quite lay my finger on it either." he remained silent for a few seconds, then looked at her. "Do you remember what… master told us? About the whole mafia thing?"

"Not like he filled us much on the matter…" sighed the girl. "We only know a bit about what their business is about, but we don't have a slightest clue on who they are, or where their headquarters are."

"You told me your guild had a special patrol for that issue, right?"

"Doesn't mean they are making the best progress, but we can always ask them someday. For now, it will have to be just the _two_ of us in this." stated the girl, voice flat and serious, ascending up the stairs to, again, another set of offices. They didn't bother looking into that floor. "Say, do you think he knows about us doing this?"

"Master isn't a stupid man, he probably knows of us sneaking out without a warning." Uraraka looked at him all the time, and appreciated a slight change in his voice as he spoke. "But I doubt he will do anything about it. My old man always knows where we are, as if he was a step ahead of us."

"Do you think he will come look for us?"

"I doubt so." his answer was almost immediate, something she was relieved to witness. But she was sure the thought of it still nagged him like it did to her, and she detested the thought of feeling as if he was looming over them. Something was very wrong with that man. "You remember what he told us, do you?"

Uraraka's eyes were cast down at the memory of it all, hands clutching her chest in an attempt to get herself together. She bit down on her lip, eyes shimmering in distress. " _I will always find you_ …" the sentence still felt ominous, making her feel as if a god was watching every movement of theirs. It didn't feel as if they were being protected… it was something worse than that. "I don't… want to be a pawn to his twisted visions, Shinsou."

"I don't either, but you already know how I see things, don't you?" both sorcerers stopped on their tracks. The staircase was longer, more distance from the general's office separating floors. It looked endless. "I don't want you interfering with my old man's plans. It's the only reason why I helped you get out of there, because I know you may want to act nasty."

Ah, such was Shinsou's ability to destroy every piece of camaraderie between them. Uraraka sighed with a patient smile. "It's only a matter of time somebody sets your dad in the right path."

Shinsou looked at her for a few seconds, his expression never shifting from the everlasting dead stare that hung from those clear, stone orbs of his. Then, he turned around with a "Hmph." as Uraraka stared at him in wonder, lips an inch agape. Her hands were still on her chest, somehow worried again for this troublesome clash. "Is yours the right path, though?"

It was in times like these when she remembered that her association with Shinsou, while highly effective and helpful to improve her abilities, it was all there was to it: pure mental and mutual exploitation of the other's abilities for future benefits. It only made her wonder why Shinsou had agreed to play along with her if he knew she could become a hinder in their plans.

She didn't say anything else again, only sighed with a troubled look in her eyes and continued their path up to Gunhead's office. They finally reached their destination, standing before the big doors. There was light from under the door, he was probably inside the room. "Ready?" asked she, eyes looking at him despite facing the door.

The other sorcerer merely nodded, then they pushed the double doors open at the same time and entered the room along each other, sunset sun seeping into the big round room and casting long shadows to the exterior of the room. The man they were looking for sat by the window, and turned around to the sound of the doors being thrown open in a way so rude he could only expect it to be them.

"Ah, I was expecting you. The notorious Purge." Gunhead spoke clearly, with no animosity in his voice, making Uraraka shift her position. She brought her fingers to her hoodie and threw it behind her, shaking her strands free from the cloak. "Just as I suspected. I had a whiff it was you two under those cloaks."

Uraraka shed a sincere smile, stepping forward to shake the man's hand. "It's good to see you again."

Shinsou came back from closing the door and removed his own hoodie as well. He observed the brief exchange between them with a quirked eyebrow. "Wait, you know each other?"

The brunette nodded, and brought a finger to her chin. "Yeah! We had a meeting with him once before the battle with RampAge." her eyes then looked at Gunhead, surprise brimming at her chocolate pools. "I'm surprised you remember me, though."

The man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah well, it's hard not to remember such personality. You made a big impression on me— well, all your companions did." his jaw rested on his palm now, looking at her silently. "The rumor had it you had died, though."

Uraraka blinked at this, a klink of suspicion clashing with her. Still, she answered calmly, unaltered. Shinsou looked at her, catching the drift as well. "I went undercover. As of now, I reckon I'm still stated missing to the public… and my guild, too— if all is well, that is. But that's not a topic to discuss now."

"We are currently under an unofficial mission, and we need a few questions to ask you." interjected Shinsou. His eyes stared at Gunhead severely, aware of who we was speaking to. "We have a few questions to ask you about the mafia business that has been going around the region these months."

Gunhead leaned backwards on his chair, making it creak a little under his weight. He considered the two kids for a few seconds, then decided to cooperate. "It must be a pretty important mission if you are so demanding about it, right?"

Uraraka looked at her companion in thought. Despite the urgency of the situation and how much it would benefit the Capital, Gunhead seemed pretty laid-back about the situation. She figured it was because he had some juicy information about them and was confident they wouldn't need their services, but it was still somewhat unsettling.

"It _is_ important— we are talking about the safety of our lands after all, our families and our guilds." Shinsou's voice was strained and tired, but he still managed to get his words out. "So we need whatever information you have on the matter to make things easier for us. For the sake of our nation."

The general looked at them in deep skepticism, because while he was pretty sure they were trustworthy, he was aware of where they came from and the man they were associated with, and he had to measure his responses properly. Their looks spoke no ill intentions, yet their backgrounds weren't slate clean either. Taking a leap of faith in this situation could mean information being leaked in the wrong direction, thus causing havoc.

Still, he decided to trust them. It was better to have a few destroyed buildings rather than have a mafia destroy it all. He propped his hands under his mask, silently pondering what to say next. Uraraka looked at him expectantly, suddenly getting a off vibe out of this eerie silence. She could tell Shinsou was also getting tired of it.

"My soldiers have been detecting some energy disruptions from underground and somewhere around the actual Council, and we are growing tense at the thought of an ambush to the core of the Capital. They may outnumber us, or overpower us. It's a matter of trying to keep the at bay, but he know nothing of them." explained Gunhead, his voice almost a hushed whisper of either fear or impatience. "We are sure there are some of them lurking in the shadows of this town, and they spread through all the nation."

So they were hiding, huh? Considering this, they may not be as numerous as Gunhead assumed them to be if they were being so cautious. Uraraka could also remember the encounter she had with Midnight that had ended so badly, and the small army she had with her. That woman was important to that clan, and was to be feared as a necromancer. Just the thought of how the battle had gone and the dreary aura she had with her brought creeps down her spine. That overwhelming presence was probably the aura Gunhead meant.

Thinking of that battle also made her remember Bakugou and how badly injured he had ended mental-wise. Her mind somehow traveled back in time, to them in that small campfire, and recalled his dark words, almost whispered in a red, scarlet and bruising glare.

 _There is a traitor in our midst._

She had almost wanted to mouth it to feel what his words would feel like, rolling off her lips. The proof Bakugou had told her was solid enough to make her suspicious of anyone in her past guild— yet who could it be? And wouldn't the Council be wary of her guild if there was someone shady there? The thought of a Jirou being in her guild made her awfully aware of the severity of the situation.

If they were attacking this town, they would probably go for her guild as well. And it was a part of her she wanted to protect in the distance.

"So they are hiding?" asked Shinsou, cocking his head a little in thought while Uraraka kept the ball rolling. "The Capital isn't that big, and there are tons of soldiers. Isn't there a patrol here?"

"Of course there is, but these are not your regular criminals— they are like ghosts." Shinsou and Uraraka shared a glance. They had had to deal with spare soldiers from the clan and they knew how they acted most of the time. "A vast majority of this breed are necromancers, not your gentle ones— they are pure _evil_."

This was probably said with the intention of scaring them or warning them, but it didn't succeed. Instead, both warriors stared at Gunhead in wonder, probably asking for more information. The leader sighed, silently wondering what the fuck had happened to these children for them to be this hardened.

"They leave trails of blood in their wake and some… are just monstrosities, artificial beings probably made out of chemicals and magic— and they are horrifying." stated Gunhead, shoulders shuddering at the vivid images of crimson flooding the town he had sworn to protect. "I am sure their deals aren't done for the money, as the Jirou clan is wealthy. It's full of illegal hunters and necromancers, which can ransack caves and villages fast. No wonder they are so infamous."

It made her remember her first encounter with Shinsou at the dungeon, such an ironic foreshadow of this very moment. She spoke next. "Then what could they be using them for?" Uraraka's frown turned into a sad trail of thought at the horrifying things they could be doing to this town this very same moment. "I am aware that they deal a lot with gems and different notorious chemicals… I don't know enough on the matter."

She tried to rack her head and remember anyone who could know, but in this state of emergency she couldn't recall anyone with certainty. She could look into it later on. Meanwhile, Gunhead nodded. "Yeah, we don't have a good list on what they are doing but my men are doing a great job at it. We are on several small battles with rebel clans at the north after RampAge's destruction, and half of my men are out there."

"Any casualties?"

He immediately answered Shinsou's question. "My men are almost immortal, that's how I raised them." Gunhead smiled, and despite Uraraka not being able to see it, she smiled too, sensing the pride in his voice. It must be good to have people to fall back on. "But going back to the topic, half of my men are missing, and the task is difficult as we have less and less agents to check on the mercancies that exit the country."

Shinsou immediately connected the dots. "Do you think the Jirou family could have something to do with the revolts?"

"That was my first thought too, but they are too far and the weather is terribly cold up there. Necromancers are terribly powerful, but they are terribly sensitive to temperature changes. Their skin can almost fall off when it's too hot, they say."

 _What an oddly specific detail to include,_ she thought, but didn't doubt his words. "Maybe they are buying illegal goods to enhance their powers." suggested Uraraka. "I bet most are shared around this town, it would explain why they are so fixated on lurking here."

Gunhead nodded his head. "That's a possibility, but I don't think they are here for that purpose." he crossed his arms, and started explaining. "We have confiscated some of their goods here at the Council, and we are keeping around one _third_ of their total purchases. They want to probably take over the Council to take what is theirs."

"Are those so dangerous to be something so desired and also hated?" asked Shinsou curiously. It was a wonder how people could fight to vigorously for something as inane and simple as gems. Those should be valuable if they were willing to risk parts of their family for it. "They must be doing dirty stuff with them if they are so desired for."

"Well, it's an illegal clan we are talking about. They are obviously not doing charity work, that's for sure." Gunhead tapped a finger against the desk of his office in deep thought. "We aren't sure what they are there for, but it's for sure that they are up to no good. We must catch them and get ahead."

The feeling of being outnumbered and chased by an enemy so fierce as that mafia didn't bode well in Uraraka, who started fidgeting with the back of her hair, and struggling to offer a measure. Her own problems would always seem like kids' play compared to the powerhouse they had against them. "It's complicated business. We could start by finding some of their members and either getting rid of them or getting the information out of them."

" _Getting rid of them_?" Shinsou smirked, she gave him a side glance. "When did your methods become so drastic, fairy?"

Uraraka grimaced, looking to the opposite side and regretting being this wild and vicious. She could sometimes cross the line when it came to words and bluntness, but she wasn't concealing her intentions either. "We can't let them roam scot-free around here either… do you really think they have intentions of stopping? Of course they don't." the brunette frowned and looked at Gunhead. "If you have any clue as to where we can stop them, please provide us!"

Shinsou felt this warm and _good_ feeling of satisfaction click into him at seeing her so resolved and determined, probably her best trait yet something she rarely showed so fiercely before their association had taken place. Before they had trained together, slaughtering someone had been less of an option for her— whereas now she didn't seem to hesitate, and was as objective as it was required from them.

If someone was on their side, they would heal. If someone was against them, they would take the daggers out.

"Well…" Gunhead took a small torn flyer from his side and slid it to them. The duo stepped to the desk and she took it gingerly, her eyes widening like saucers. "Tomorrow, we will be holding the National Championship in the Capital, in the coliseum. There will be a grand crowd and the best guilds will be competing in it— yours included, by the way."

Uraraka had heard of this competition from Jack in the past, and Shinsou should know what it was, being the leader of one of the best guilds of the country. Competitors from all over the nation would gather in this place and fight for dominance of the arena, but only the best were accepted for this. Her village was small, but it was extremely powerful. She knew they could probably win this competition.

"A big crowd, huh?" Shinsou took the paper and examined it carefully. "It sure sounds like a good opportunity for some assassination for them."

Gunhead's palms pointed at them in affirmation. "Exactly." then, he took out a list. "We have been checking on the competitors and we have a pair of suspicious names who could have relations with the Jirou mafia. Knowing this, they are probably there to outpower everyone and sweep the competition, taking the prizes home. We accept powerful warriors, but not when they have dark intentions and will probably turn against us."

Uraraka spoke next. "Yeah, but still— most guilds are powerful enough to probably go against those two and win fair and square. Wouldn't that be easier, to tell them about it?"

He shook his head and got up from his seat to look out the window. His silence grew mysterious and tense, as if scared of what was to come. "We aren't exactly sure that these two contestants are criminals, so we can't tell them to attack two warriors and burn them to a crisp. If they were to be innocent, it would put them in risk."

"Then what can the Council do other than cross their arms and wait?" asked the purple haired sorcerer, rubbing his neck in irritation, because it felt horrible to be useless. "If it's illegal for the contestants to meddle, then I'm guessing the town would have your head for murdering two innocent guildspeople."

"Which is exactly why I need your help." at this, Uraraka and Shinsou jumped a little in their spots. "The classification processes are over, but that doesn't mean you can't go and crash the party. Find a way to get into the championship and discover who are the Jirous in the battlefield." he brought his hands behind his back. "The final battle will involve 4 people from each of the six guilds that have resulted victorious, out of which there are two that could be actual Jirous."

The logic that followed this rule made Uraraka shudder visibly and gulp heavily, claws tearing her skin apart as the truth seeped in fast and hard. The moment she realized this, it felt like she was facing a door behind which a giant, fearsome monster waited for her, anticipation mixing in with utter fear and trepidation. It was overwhelming.

"So that means…" the brunette spoke faster and louder. "that means that then those two are people infiltrated in those guilds, am I correct?"

"Obviously so. But who those two people could be isn't accurate information, thus is something I can't provide you with. This is based on speculation, barely official as we don't have the tools to find the culprits." Uraraka drew a shaky breath, looking at Gunhead with a concerned, calm expression— yet inside, she was absolutely terrified. "I am aware your power is above the average, and you wouldn't have much trouble winning over the competition. You will have to sneak into the coliseum and enter the battlefield. And as soon as you have taken care of it, you must flee and let the battle carry on."

Uraraka looked down at the flyer with crinkled eyebrows. "Flee, huh?"

Gunhead exhaled a great amount of air. "I am guessing you will accept the job, as it benefits your search for the clan. You can find these people and take them wherever you want to interrogate them, all as long as you take them to our headquarters." the way he pronounced it made it seem like an easy task, and he must have a great deal of trust on them if he was so sure of them being victorious. "And I'm sure you are pretty tired as well, you also seem to have a few scratches on your skin."

Shinsou arched an eyebrow at the sudden change in topic, but answered regardless. "Yeah, we've had a busy day."

They could hear the smile in Gunhead's voice. "That's no problem, you shall rest in here before the championship. We will provide you with enough clothing and weaponry to be ready for this mission, so please follow the hallway to the room wing."

He was dismissing them so quickly… something was wrong. Was he tired of the topic? Uraraka was about to say something, but Shinsou saw this coming and spoke first. "We will. Thank you very much, General. We will head there now without further ado."

The General finally dismissed them with a nod, and Shinsou took the hint to leave and grabbed Uraraka by the arm, dragging her out of the room. He only let her go after he had closed the doors and had Uraraka following behind as he headed for the rooms. "Meanie! I was going to say—"

"I know what you were going to say, reason why I prevented you from talking." Uraraka squared the hit and shut up, rubbing the spot he had grabbed with a hiss. "You have noticed it too, haven't you?"

She topped fidgeting to catch up with him and hum in irritation. "Of course I have. Something is very wrong."

"His behavior was awfully tense for a full-fledged like that." stated Shinsou bitterly, biting back a full-on analysis. "And the way he spoke to you… he didn't seem very surprised to see you were alive, either."

Uraraka nodded, aggravated by how bleak the corridors were and trying to desperately piece it all together. The problem was that they had been here for a day and it felt as if they were being observed too intensely. This place gave very odd feelings. "I'm aware of that. He didn't seem very bothered by all of this… just as all his coworkers were back in the day. Maybe he is a bit of a laid-back ruler."

"I can't see such wealthy town being this successful with a lazy ruler, but that's a topic for another day." he looked at her then, turning corner to the room wing. It was, as expected, empty. Not a sound could be heard other than their voices, and they sounded drowned out too. "About the two contestants… do you think they could be among our own guilds?"

She didn't know what to answer to that, as she wanted it not to be real, but it wasn't a far-fetched concept either. Still, maybe keeping this a secret from Shinsou would draw a line in their companionship— she couldn't have him thinking badly of her guild in that sense. There was no necessity for him to know. "I'm sure it's not my guild's case. Could it be yours?"

"Nah." shrugged he, but both knew that they could be members of a guild polluted with a Jirou torn, and it pushed them to a tense silence as they considered the thought, suddenly feeling out of place. It was sickening to think this way. "Perhaps sleeping it off will do us some good. Sunset's almost over, and tomorrow's a great day."

Uraraka branched off from him with a shaking smile, waving him goodbye. "Roger that. I'll see you tomorrow!"

And with that, they entered their rooms— and while Shinsou practically limped on his bed, Uraraka stopped for a few seconds, leaning on the door to let the train smash all its weight on her and rethink her steps. It was getting dark outside, they very few people around the street very hearable in the unbearable silence of the castle. The thought of a crew of mafia members lurking around town and carrying out their own persona judgements sickened her to the core, made her see pictures she didn't want to see.

She looked at her hands, then clenched them. Uraraka was a woman with tons of stamina, and she wasn't near sleepy despite the battle some hours before. She wasn't at her best, but she could probably do something more useful than sleeping some unneeded extra ours.

The sorcerer nodded to herself. Perhaps some patrolling of her own would help unravel the secrets of this town.

* * *

The streets of the Capital were, in all fairness, colder than she could have expected. There was a small breeze wafting around her everywhere she went, with every one of her ghostly steps as she went around town. A thin mist hovered above the ground with small sparks from the fire torches around her, the night camouflaging her feet and frame as she advanced through the sea of fog and silence.

It was a tranquil night. The only noises she could hear were the cries of owls and the chirping of some birds and cicadas, as if accompanying her in her travelling. Had Edgar been there and he would have enjoyed a healthy feast of those bugs. He would have probably made her job easier. Sighing, Uraraka continued walking through the street, lights thrown at her hoodie in a dim, white light. The night was cold, the lights were warm.

But there was no one in sight, and she was being swift enough to make sure no one was appearing in areas she had previously inspected. She was now in the residential area, a place she considered to be more prone to actual vandalism. A gust of wind hit her, making her shiver as it penetrated her clothes and skin, and Uraraka looked up to the big castle of the Council. Some lights were turned on, making the building look tall, scary, as if looming over the town.

It was such a grand palace during daylight, yet so cold and heartless at night, like a monster looking over the silent, sleeping town. She tried to fight the chill that ran down her spine, and walked forward again. Her steps advanced decisively around the area, buildings mostly dark and tall over her petite frame. She looked to her sides. "There's no one around…" there was a small stream of water by her side, the murmur of the bubbles meeting her ears. "Where could they be?"

Suddenly, she picked up gruffy steps coming towards her, and Uraraka hurried to hide into a small gap between houses. She got in as deep as possible to avoid the light giving her away, and blended with the shadows. The place was so extremely tight she could not turn her head much, only hear hushed voices she couldn't quite understand. Her first guess was that those were the pair of Jirou members that were searching for their nightly victim, and made her frown in distaste.

When the girl deemed them to be far away enough, she slowly slid off the gap into the light, shaking her uniform into place. Uraraka was quick to pinpoint their location a few meters away when she turned in their direction. They were crossing a bridge over the small stream into the other side of the town. These crossing streams were such a charming part of the town, idle and reflecting the flames of the torches.

But Uraraka's heart was in a frenzy. With the energy she had now, there was no way she could face off against two high-ranked necromancers or hunters like them and not cause destruction in her vicinity. She would have to find another way around town without crossing paths with them.

The sorcerer turned in the opposite direction, rewalking the steps from before, and made her way into a street she hadn't been in for some time. It was still as wide and silent as before, the pavement unaltered, it conserved its features and its atmosphere yet when she got to the end of it, something felt weird.

Uraraka looked down at her feet, frowning once again. There was something wrong with the place she was in at the moment, something big was lurking somewhere around her, nearby. It felt like there was an overwhelming crowd under her feet, around her, above her. A massive mass of power and life was observing her, but she couldn't tell where this feeling was coming from. When Uraraka looked up, she was surprised to find out she was standing right before the steps of the cathedral, and the more she stood there, the colder it all felt and the weirder it was.

Confused, the sorcerer whipped her head around in search of a new enemy, yet was met with the silence of the nearby streams and a confusing hush. She took a step back and glanced up at the cathedral, which just as the castle, issued a stark dark aura as the darkness of the night fell from the top of the bell tower. There seemed to be nobody around her other than her.

Perhaps it had been enough for tonight, and decided to go back to the palace. Without dedicating a spare thought, she turned heel in the direction of the Council, steps light and pace a bit more hurried than she realized. She could comb the street the day afterwards and go through the other half of the Capital— this had been enough for one night.

Uraraka stepped over the wooden bridge of the stream, then proceeded onward through a passage which was dimly illuminated by the oil torches. Her cloak could be seen above the mysterious fog and the pale colors of the white buildings, and in her haste, Uraraka tragically failed to hear the same gruffy steps from before turning corner to see her walking away. One of them narrowed his eyes to ensure he wasn't dreaming, then started walking faster to see her.

"Oi, who the fuck are you!?"

Time stopped for her in that precise moment, because Uraraka could pick up that voice from anywhere in this Earth and know it was _him_ , that it would always be him with his golden hair and scarlet glare, piercing through her heart and setting it on fire, fear and trepidation escalating all through her until she felt rooted to the ground, frozen, speechless.

Summoning up all the strength she could muster, Uraraka turned to make sure she wasn't having a nightmare or a dream, that it was him— and she could pick up the sound of his breath hitching as well, and when light was thrown over her eyes for a moment, her eyes shrunk and widened to a terrified shaking glance, and she made the decision to flee, and instantly started running away from the duo of hunters.

Bakugou of course didn't stop his chasing, and when he was able to break away from his reverie, he broke into a desperate run after her while Midoriya trailed behind him, meters behind the ruthless yet somewhat panicking leader. Her figure was getting lost into the night, yet the blonde wouldn't be giving up that easily this time around, and tried to increase his speed despite his legs begging him to stop after days of endless training.

A few minutes later, Bakugou turned into a street where he had lost her. The pavement was highly illuminated and the fog was significantly fainter, but there was no trace of her— yet Bakugou knew best, and frowned in aggravation because he had seen those eyes, some strands of her hair, and unbeknownst to him his hands were shaking, he was almost panting in desperation because he fucking knew. _It had to be her_.

Midoriya staggered to his side, somewhat confused by this change in his behavior. He only knew of one person who could and had done this to him but he decided to be tactful. "Bakugou, do you think this was someone from the illegal clan?"

The aforementioned clenched his hands into fists, gritting his teeth and letting his eyes scan the street freely. The fact that she was gone only made him think it had been nothing else but a mirage, but the way his heart was beating told him otherwise. He couldn't be wrong. It had to be true. He was somewhat empty when it came to Midoriya's question. "Got no idea, greenielocks. But there was someone in dark clothes walking around too late in the night."

Yet, he didn't move from the spot until some moments later, when he stepped back, only to look again. Where was she? He was sure it had been her, it couldn't be in any other way. But if it were to be her, what was she even doing in the Capital, so late into the night? This was a fucking nightmare. Midoriya deemed it to be fair to ask. "Do you think it was…?"

"I got no idea." his head tilted forward in anger, his fists tighter as he squared the hit with dignity— he had lost her, again, apparently, but he had lost her and being reminded of it brought back those unneeded stupid feelings back. "But I don't wanna stay longer and discover, I'll fucking rip her head off. Let's get going."

Bakugou and Midoriya walked away in silence, letting the almost crazy Uraraka calm down. Her hands were fisting the fabric of her shirt for dear life, panting to calm her thundering heartbeat and make sense of the new rush of feelings that surged within her so suddenly, her cheeks red and her temple sweaty, hands heavy and legs wobbly at the thought of being so close to him once again. This feeling of nervousness and trepidation… yet overwhelming joy for seeing they were alright, that he was alright…

A lone tear ran down her cheeks, and she clasped a hand over her mouth while she stifled in sobs of her own. It was him, he was there, he had almost found her and the shock was somehow as heartbreaking and new that all she could do was softly tremble and calm herself down. No one would hear her whimpers of relief, or her throbbing beating heart after seeing him again.

She had discarded these feelings after so long. Why in the world was this care and relief coming back so strongly?

Uraraka didn't want this. She had never wanted this. And she shivered and tried to relax until those feelings were burnt to a crisp. She promised herself this would be the last time she ever considered his presence. Never _again_.

In a not so faraway place, a certain blonde shook his head at the thought of her being alive and well as it was such a shocking and disconcerting thought that it brought his heart back beating— but he didn't want this feeling, this anew weakness.

He didn't want this. None of them wanted this.

But far underneath the mask of their own strength, they couldn't help but be happy they had at least gotten to remember what it had once been to stand together in a battlefield.

* * *

"Oi, Nameless! What are you doin' there on your own?" asked Katsuki from the distance. The little girl looked up to see her three friends standing under the small shelter at the lookout, just at the peak of a cliff that looked over the lands of their home. Under the shimmering downpour, the brunette could barely make out the shelter, let alone their voice. "C'mere, we're doing stuff!"

Despite she knew that his voice was commanding and probably meaner than necessary, she complied like she had been taught to. Nameless went up the hill and ran underneath the small roof, where Kirishima and Mina stood too. They were sketching things in a notebook, sometimes looking over the limits of the cliff, to the towns below. Only then did she realize that they were exactly at the limits of their town, just a step away from Katsuki's human one.

What were they doing there? The question was blatantly evident in her eyes and Katsuki, as intelligent as he was, didn't take long to catch up on it. They had been friends for so long— well, if 'friends' was even an appropriate statement for whatever he could hold with any other person — and they had found ways to read each other in ways that were still unknown for her. It was so intuitive and quick. He was around her age, fourteen or so, but he would look a thousand years older when angry.

Just like now, basically.

"Do you remember that fucking girl that was kidnapped so many years ago? I think I already told you about her— a magician or some shit. I don't even remember anymore." Katsuki put a foot on a rock and looked over the part of his nation, frowning. "My people want her back in case _your_ people attack us. She's apparently a damn powerhouse."

" _Our_ people!?" bellowed her almost indignant, prompting Katsuki to side glance her. "I heard our parents speaking about war, and your people planning to make a move soon!"

"Again, how much time has it been since then?"

At this, Nameless was rendered speechless. The blonde retreated from his observing position and regarded his friends that stayed behind with a shake of his head. "My people are getting tired of staying idle, and they got their weapons ready. The problem is, your race has lots of magicians like you and good fighters like Kirishima, hence why they want that overpowered bitch on their side. They count that after being kidnapped for this long, she will go berserk against your clan."

Of course, everyone stopped whatever they were thinking about or doing when they heard this reasoning and connected the dots. Kirishima was the first one to speak. "Dude, do you think we're gonna help you find that magician if it means ending our species? Of course not."

And Nameless agreed wholeheartedly, looking at her friend intently. "We will always defend our town wholeheartedly— just what was even crossing your mind when you offered that idea?"

"Tch, fucking fine then." afterwards, Katsuki looked at Nameless dead in the eye, scowling. "But I was hoping you would be a decent person and help me find someone who has been hostage for… years. If you had been kidnapped and probably tortured, wouldn't you be fucking dying to be rescued?"

A clap of thunder struck from the sky behind Nameless, surprising everyone but her— she clutched her head as a flash of recognition brushed through her mind, feeling the hard touch of claws on her head for a second, tears down her eyes. Her eyes stared off into the horizon before she snapped out of it, shaking her head.

Sister was the next one to break the silence. "Your nation wants to attack us because of a girl we didn't kidnap. My people wouldn't do such a thing!" Mina got up from her seat by Kirishima to face the blonde. "Your species is just looking for a excuse to shame us and exterminate us! How du—"

"I'll help out."

Everyone's eyes snapped to Nameless and her determined stance. Her clothes were splashed with the rain from outside, darker, but not dimming the shining determination in her eyes. A step away from her, Katsuki smirked. "If we rescue that magician, perhaps the humans will let up and won't attack us. At this point, it's the only opportunity we have to stop the war."

Kirishima shook his head with a remorseful expression. "Those bastards — no offense intended, Katsuki—"

"None taken."

"— but those assholes are hungry for power more than anything else. How is a magician's presence going to stop them from their pretenses?" his resolve was strengthened, and he shook his head again with a grunt. "No dice. If anything, they will use her as a weapon against us— and worst of it all is that we didn't do anything wrong. We were here first!"

Mina frowned at him. "We could strike some kind of deal with them that will benefit them. Maybe there is hope after all for peace if they end up economically benefited."

"That's the whole fucking point." stated Katsuki with a grimace. "My people ain't stupid. They will probably lose soldiers in this selfish mission of theirs— if they are given a profitable business, they will most likely give in."

Nameless nodded. She sensed Mina was willing to cooperate, yet Kirishima wasn't as convinced. She looked at him pleadingly, and stepped to his side, then grabbed his hands. "Please, do it for our sake. For the town we live in." a small leak let water fall on their entwined hands. She shook it a little. "Remember when we used to play horses around and take water supplies?"

Katsuki glared at their joined hands with a frown, then crossed his arms and looked to a side. On the other hand, Kirishima sighed in frustration. "You always gotta bring good ol' Harold into this, huh?" Nameless nodded eagerly, Mina chuckled. She glanced at Bakugou from the corner of her sight. "Fine, but don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Nameless giddily put a fist up in celebration, which Katsuki ignored easily. "We can't let our elders know of this, we will be using code names from now on."

"Code names!" exclaimed the redhead, apparently more excited now at the prospect of being undercover. "Hella cool! I wanna be… Stoneheart!"

Of course, the trio shared a quick glance before looking at Kirishima and speaking in unison. " _Harold_." making Mina giggle at the pout the boy offered. Katsuki smirked at the ridiculous nickname, yet knew it would work out. "I'll be Howitzer, alien girl here will be… Pinky?" she nodded in agreement, and Katsuki then looked at Nameless. "But you…"

The brunette pointed at herself. "What about me?"

Katsuki stepped to stand before her, towering over her still small frame. His arms were still crossed, stern and demanding. "I'm fucking tired of you not having a name, so I'm gonna spare a neuron and give you one."

Nameless obviously widened her eyes, startled by how frustrated and how overwhelmingly serious he looked. She fluttered her eyes, staring deep into his crimson blazing depths. They were burning up, scorching hot and devastating against her more timid gaze.

Finally, he spoke. "Ochako." he spoke hoarsely. "Your name is gonna be Ochako."

" _Ochako_?" asked Kirishima. "Why? I would have never expected you to be so thoughtful about it."

Katsuki looked from him to her again, looking deep into her eyes. "I have seen her drinking tea far too often. I have never seen her drink anything else. And it suits her. What the hell is wrong with i—"

"It's… a cute name, Katsuki." Ochako smiled to herself, then looked at him with a bright smile. "I don't recall ever having a name… it feels nice. Thanks, Katsuki!"

Kirishima and Mina looked at the scene, smiling at how happy Name— Ochako looked. Katsuki only growled a small "Whatever…" ignoring the small thumping of his heart at seeing her this happy.

* * *

"Fairy, you gotta hurry already!" Shinsou walked the path to the coliseum quickly. The streets were devoid of people since everyone was watching the tournament, cheers and screams ringing from the coliseum that waited for them ahead. The walls to the facility were starting to appear before them as Shinsou ran a few meters ahead of her. "We will miss the introductions if you don't let go of the brakes!"

Uraraka tried her best to catch up with him, and eventually did. The great area of the coliseum appeared as they went up the small hill on the path, seeing the great concrete walls and the roar of the public in the distance. The sheer feeling of that much people in there was almost overwhelming, making her hands grow heavy and her heart thump loudly in her chest. She was just hoping things would go according to plan.

Trumpets echoed in the distance, and Uraraka felt this emptying, voiding feeling of a death parade marching straight into this town. Whatever was going to happen in that tournament wasn't any good at all, and she was just hoping this feeling of isolation, as if the whole world was falling through her chest and making her sick would fade soon. The galaxies of her eyes stared into the horizon, out of focus, yet straightened into focus again as she heard the bellowing of guards at the entrance.

One of them ordered them to stop, making the duo slow their run until they were walking to them, only to stop in their tracks. "Stop! You have not been invited to the Grand Final! Uncover your head and show us your identity!"

Shinsou straightened his uniform, refusing to tug it down no matter the circumstances. "I was hoping a friendlier welcome." it was a bit strange for Uraraka that Gunhead hadn't warned his guards of the plan, making her wonder how messy the Council was of there was such disorder within its soldiers. "I can't believe we got this damn hold up."

The brunette scowled in frustration at the hinder, and rubbed her hands through her gloves. Her eyes were fixated on the crew, yet she spoke to Shinsou. "How much leeway did the General give us?"

His eyes looked at her, almost bored, yet he knew better than to be bored with whatever this woman was planning. "There is no leeway as such for what he mentioned."

"Good." nodded she, then took a step forward and tugged a glove off her hand with her teeth. The moment made a painful flash of deja-vu run before her, yet she didn't have time to dwell on it. "We need to get through this door. If you don't let us through, we will have to burst through."

This army seemed to have a generalized vice on cockyness, as some chuckled. At least they hadn't started laughing their ass off like those did with Bakugou once. If anything, it surprised her they weren't writing them off completely. "Please. Are you really going to waste all your stamina on us? What for, even? And would you even be able to take us all out?" one of the guards snickered at her. "Who sends you, strangers?"

Uraraka shoved her glove into the pocket of her uniform, licking a small cut on her lip. "Sorry, we are in a hurry, we don't have time to exchange data like this!"

Uraraka put a foot forward and brought a hand up, flickering her fingers to create a rippling thread of vines that surged from the ground and knocked all guards off their places with a gale of wind behind them, slates of stone dancing out of place and rolling to Shinsou and Uraraka's feet. The girl paid no heed to it and watched all guards flop to a side of the nearby stream, others falling straight into it in such disoriented state that some didn't seem to come up to breathe.

As Uraraka watched them flee with a stern glance, Shinsou whistled. "Damn, fairy, you sure don't play around when you are in a hurry." his fingers rubbed his jaw in thought. "You've been using tons of root magic lately."

Uraraka breathed a shaky giggle of guilt, putting her glove back on. "I had thought of using fire magic, hence why I removed the glove, but it would have been too flashy and would have attracted other guards' attentions." she looked around, surprised no one had come around to check on the ruckus. "We can't barge through the door, but we are at least sure we haven't been officially noticed by the army now that the ones that did are gone."

"Sounds like a plan." conceded the other, looking up to the wall. "I'm guessing you want us to climb it up." then, he saw Uraraka taking a few steps backwards, and knew she had planned this, making him smirk. "Nevermind that."

While Shinsou figured a way to climb up the wall himself, Uraraka jumped onward and made herself float up to the wall. If she wanted to be on her prime for the Grand Final, she would have to save as much stamina as possible. The way up was hard, her stomach twisting painfully, but she let it pass, go down, and before she knew it, she was endless feet up on the wall's bailey, landing on her knees with a hand to support herself in case nausea stricked.

But it didn't, so she got on her feet and whipped her head around the paths on the great wall under her feet. There didn't seem to be anyone around there, probably guarding over the tournament that was taking place in the coliseum that lay before her, a bit smaller in height. She squinted her eyes to localize a small cabin carved on rock on the wall's of the coliseum, like a restricted area in a circus. She guessed Gunhead and all other important politicians were there to look over it all.

A second later, Shinsou raised behind the wall with his hands on his pockets, making Uraraka look behind her after she heard a cracking noise. He had probably made a rock pillar to get up there. "Could you be more flashy, white?"

With a snap of Shinsou's fingers, something small detonated deep below their feet, almost hearable, yet Uraraka had a pretty well trained hearing. "No one will climb it up now that it's gone and rubble, so forget about it." he jumped off the railing of the wall and to her side. "No one's here."

The girl pointed at the squared cabinet. "They must be guarding the area around there and the entrances to the coliseum from the hallways below us." then, she walked to the railway that gave view to the coliseum, its own bailey a garden away. Below her lay some taverns and gear shops, but that was irrelevant now. "We could maybe make it there with a jump, the master cabin's edge is nearer than the coliseum's bailey."

"Fair enough." Shinsou took a few steps back, like Uraraka, and both leaped over the bailey to the coliseum's master cabin, where Gunhead and his pawns should be at. However, Uraraka didn't make it on her feet, and had to hold onto the edge of the structure so she wouldn't fall to the depths below. Shinsou tsked and grabbed her wrist. "Do you have to be so fucking clumsy?"

She was tugged up to the ceiling of the master cabin, and instructed on these events, both warriors lay on their fronts as to not be detected by the crowds around the coliseum. "Thanks for the save. I'm not the most graceful." he nodded in acknowledgement, and crawled with her to the edge of the cabin to watch the spectacle below, the arena coming into view. There was the soft lull of the clash of blades and the bellowing from the warriors below.

If she squinted, she could make out various corpses lying on the floor, sprawled. Some bodies steamed a faint trail of smoke, making Uraraka aware of who had been their attacker. She turned her head to Shinsou. "Let's see how the battle unfolds. It seems like some teams have been taken down already."

"Can you spot your guild around there?"

The sorcerer tried her best to pinpoint the location of her peers among the moving blurs— she could clearly see the golden mane from her prior leader, which obviously gave her this sinking feeling at the memory of him almost catching her on the streets the previous night, but she didn't think about it more than she was needed to, only jotted down that his red cape had somehow turned black. Then, somewhere nearby, she could see a blur of hardened red skidding around a pair of contestants that seemed to be doing their best against him.

Uraraka nodded. "They seem to be going against your guild above everything. Think they are complices?"

She didn't think so. Shinsou's guild was still standing, attacking people at random. She could see this blonde man and another one with silver hair, then a girl with auburn hair. She guessed their other integrant had fallen down. "Your guild doesn't seem to be a part of this alliance despite its wishes to take mine down. They all must know our guilds are the strongest, and will want to chip them down."

That was something he could agree on. If he was the weakest links of a competition, he'd want to join forces with someone a bit stronger and take the big ones down. Two halves of a orange make a full orange, they say. "Right. Can you spot your other minions?"

Uraraka shook her head in disdain, but complied anyway. The fact that she was probably stronger than most of them didn't make them her pawns or anything like that—it was almost disgusting that he thought of her as some kind of hidden boss or just a powerhouse that could act in their name. Disgusting. "I can see Bakugou and Kirishima…" she searched a bit around the colorful heads within the attackers. Then, she heard a pained scream, and looked at its source to find Todoroki holding his sword above him, panting. "Yeah, that's Todoroki. I'm surprised Midoriya isn't…"

Shinsou tapped her shoulder twice, and pointed at a spot in the crowd. Indeed, there sat her leader with Kaminari and Yaoyorozu. It brought her immense joy that everyone was safe, and at the sight of seeing them cheer for their peers, she smiled. Though, a part of her heart shrunk, wishing she could be there with them, enjoying the spectacle, or making them proud battling there.

She shook the feeling away, but the bitter pang of regret remained despite the tremendous benefits she had obtained from this deal. Uraraka looked at Midoriya. "His arm…" the boy hugged it close to his chest, cradling it. "he seems to have broken it."

"That explains why those are there in his place." Shinsou pointed at the arena again. There were even less people around. "Wait..."

The brunette squinted and was immensely surprised to find a very familiar face making the grounds shake and tying every foe to the ground with her whip. Her breath hitched at the odd choice. "Jack? Of all people?"

First things first, if Uraraka was startled to find her there it wasn't because she was any less able than the others, but because Jack didn't stand out as much to really pick her for such important events like these. She would have probably chosen Kaminari so they'd cover more field weapon and ability-wise. Midoriya and Bakugou were good strategists— something was odd in here.

"Your guild and mine is still standing, along with what seems to be two more." Shinsou removed his own gloves from his hands and craned his head to his companion. "We still gotta find those Jirou bastards in the crowd."

Uraraka nodded and turned her head to the battle again. If they had to spy with their little eye and find a culprit, they'd have to do so and wait until the charade was over.

* * *

These fuckers were harder than he had expected them to be, thus making his job much more difficult than it was supposed to be.

Bakugou took a step forward and swung his sword forward to get rid of another hunter with dark hair, yet another one came from behind and tried to attack him, only to get a blast to the face. This was confusing— what was the deal with people going so hard against them? He took a look at his right to see Jack struggling to get some offenders off her face, but eventually getting past it.

He wiped a bead of sweat off his cheek, looking around. Todoroki had been merciless against those he encountered, attacking randomly while Bakugou and Kirishima took care of the most direct ones. Everyone knew of Todorki's lineage, so no one dared attack him, knowing how capable this man was of freezing them to nothing or burning them to a crisp if provoked hard enough.

But Bakugou was another type of barbarian, standing surrounded by clouds of his own smoke, hands trembling while his sword dripped the sweet honey of violence. He trudged forward to see the battle unfold, and found Kirishima helping Jack out. That was good. It seemed like the battle was mostly won for them, excepting for some losers from Grinning Blade, but he could manage.

The hunter heard hurried steps coming from behind the smoke, which he cleared with a hand to slice his sword across the abdomen of a man he had fought earlier, but the way he was launching at him so eagerly… something was off about this desperate kind of fighting, as if he couldn't feel pain. But he didn't have time to ask. He had to win the tournament.

"What a damn drag." he finally kicked the man to the nearest wall, landing with a loud thud that ended in broken debris and a faint explosion. The crowd seemed surprised and delighted by this powerful show, making Bakugou grin. This was the kind of show they wanted, then he'd give them that. His guild would be the fucking best no matter what.

Besides, one had to feed the beasts, like the circus. He wouldn't mind being the bad bully this time around, knowing everyone was so weak in comparison to them. Yet, those guys… they were so resistant, they weren't fucking giving up.

In fact, the man got up from within the debris and started walking again, as if it had been a measly punch. Not used to being ineffective like this, Bakugou stared at him in horror. "What the fuck is going on?" he charged a hand and directed it to the wall. "What kind of damn abomination are you? Die already!"

Bakugou blasted a powerful explosion towards the enemy, and a small earthquake rumbled across the battlefield. The crowd of spectators shook at the powerful attack, which had left the leader in a small pant, heaving up and down. Kirishima sprinted to his side. "Yo, what's up with that dude?"

The man got up again from within the debris, making the blond sigh in aggravation. "No damn clue. He's a wimp, but he ain't giving up. I don't know if I should be impressed or suspicious of this bastard."

The crowd was looking at them expectantly. It was obvious something was up with this guy if he wasn't taking any kind of damage from his attacks, on anyone else's. The people around them were falling down and being defeated, but this guy was a damn pain. He didn't even seem to be from any other guild considering how singled out from the rest he seemed. "Everyone's starting to notice. Do you think this guy is—?"

"Beats me." Bakugou's voice was rough and hoarse, gravelly like no other. "I don't give a fuck about that treaty if it ended how it did. But this guy is too much of a freak to not consider him a part of it and he's giving us too much extra work." the red-eyed hunter looked at his peer and nodded at the guy. "Keep him busy while we sort this trash out. I'll go help Jack."

Which was a rarity, since Bakugou rarely went out of his way to help others. He did once and… it didn't end well. It was a bitter thought, but it was there and it sucked. He swallowed it up and ran to see Jack keeping some spare people away from her, them being that guy with the same ability as Kirishima and some other girl. They retreated when the girl made the ground under them break.

Now that the blonde thought about it, it looked like they were going to end up winning. There were very few enemies out from his village still standing. The final showdown would probably take place between Grinning Blade and Yuuei, it seemed, and maybe a pair of guys who dared team up with them. "Jack, have you seen that guy yet?"

The girl promptly looked at him with an arched eyebrow, and looked at the way Bakugou had walked. The guy Kirishima was trying to beat down was seemingly resilient at any kind of attack, either it was physical or magic-based. She frowned at this. "I had noticed him before, didn't think much of him." she looked at her leader afterwards. "What's the matter now? I thought you weren't gonna cooperate with Gunhead's business."

Bakugou looked around. A sea of corpses lay around them, some bloody and some scorched, obviously none dead. He hummed in distaste at the metallic smell that tainted his now caked hands. While he was enjoying this final statement of the championship like a kid, something in him told him this was a too rushed way to organize it. When he had been told about this arrangement it had come as a surprise, and it had only been justified as them being prepared for a war situation with many objectives around.

It still sounded overly messy and too destructured. He wasn't a nosy man but he wasn't a fool either. "I hadn't planned on it, but something's wrong here— starting with that guy."

Jack, still on guard for any new attack, looked at him again from the corner of her eye. No one would attack her if Bakugou was around, and seeing the various cracks around her, she wasn't someone to be taken lightly either. "I got this feeling this tournament is too imbalanced to be something innocent and pure. That guy feels out of place considering the amount of power needed for this."

Somebody finally fucking noticed. He looked at the guy again. "Do you think he's one of them?"

Jack looked at the man again, only gave him two seconds of her attention span. "If there's somebody else in here from that place, it's gotta be him." spoke Jack hurriedly, then took out her whip. While her sword lay in place on her back, she decided to ask and carry out their plan despite Bakugou's reluctance. "What are we gonna do? Give him a beating?"

"He ain't giving it a rest, I don't think beating him up will do any shit. Don't be dumb." he pushed his spikes out of his forehead, bringing his sword again. "But he ain't more than a pushover, so we should be able to at least tie him up."

She agreed with him at first. That man looked weak enough to be considered less than a menace, but then, she saw Bakugou's fierce frowned eyes. She had seen that somewhere else. "How do you know he's so weak though?"

He turned to her. "You gotta be kidding me."

"What I mean is…" she sighed, and discarded the jacket of her uniform. The purple coat with the fur floated away. "I don't mean to be rude, but people who are defensive and evade and block attacks like this aren't weak by default." Jack looked at him almost slyly, without animosity. "You've been through this— you should know that."

Bakugou caught the drift almost too quickly, and gritted his teeth. He could remember that reference like it had been the day before. And she was, sadly, absolutely right. He could still recall the way she skid against the pavement and raised her head to him as if she deserved to be at his level, her brows knit… he knew that look. It had been almost feral. It wasn't a look a weakling would pull that easily.

He could see a strong opponent a mile away, but the way his radar had failed that day, perhaps this man could go over his expectations. He looked like some kind of punching bag one could go on and on against without it being affected, it was almost scary. The guy was like some kind of unmovable object, receiving hit after hit, and not giving back any single one of them. It was as if he was resting all the time, waiting for a opportunity to strike back, storing the impact—

Bakugou's eyes widened. He had seen that shit before. Taking a step forward and seeing the guy suddenly limp in Kirishima's grasp, he shouted. "Kirishima, get away from that motherfucker!"

The redhead was obviously startled by this, and looked up from the unconscious foe. "What's up now, dude? Chill al—"

But indeed, the guy's skin started getting awfully cold, the skin of his hands cracking and getting swollen. He let out a grunt of discomfort, as if in pain, and as a strange steam started issuing from his shoulders, the hunter was quick to jump away and hop to Bakugou's side. The show was drawing everyone's attention, an inexplicable chill steaming from the hole he had created. While some minor foes fought in the background, the members of Yuuei and Grinning Blade stood before the crevasse.

This was the first time they stood so enar without a threat dangling from their weapons. "It's… getting so fucking cold." spoke someone from behind, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Bakugou looked at his peers with a dipped stance, ready to fight whatever lied ahead. There was a low crumble of debris in the hole, then a growl, and a reddish light shone from the depths of the hole. Debris started moving, crumbling to the ground, steps were advancing out of the depths. They were heavier than whatever that man had been before, and it was starting to let out sounds that were anything but human.

Two claws grabbed the ends of the hole, poked their fingers into the concrete coliseum and poked their head out, letting out a screech of terror as a layer of ice coated the surface he touched, spiking out as the creature was revealed. The chilling noise made everyone step back, even Bakugou widened his eyes at this monstrosity. "What the hell is that?" wondered he, merely a whisper.

There was a horrified gasp in the public, some screaming for their lives and running out of the public seats as the monster surfaced. It had gotten enormous, big, hair longish and muscles swollen to burst. His back was somewhat hunched over, eyes shining in a bright red. He had a big mark in his chest along with marred, scarry skin. His skin had turned sickly green, his height making Bakugou look up in sheer horror.

In the end, he had never meant to defeat whoever Jirou traitor was there, but he'd have to apparently kill the bastard before he killed everyone in sight. Aware that this was not their job and being in a lackluster state, Grinning Blade fled to the battlefield and went on defeating minor foes now that Yuuei had their hands full. Kirishima, Todoroki and Jirou stood behind Bakugou, both startled at Grinning Blade's lack of perspective. They'd probably come back when the minor opponents were dealt with.

"It's… a colossus."

Todorki's expression didn't seem fazed other than shocked, if anything… he looked almost heartbroken at the image, but no one asked. They had no time for meaningless explanations— all they knew was that they'd have to deal with this guy before he escaped the facility and carried out whatever scheme was implanted in its— his? brain. Bakugou wasn't sure if this monster was still person, but he was a menace.

And judging by Todoroki's shock and slight shake in his hands, he was fearsome.

Bakugou got in a battle stance, making his companions follow suit. "We gotta take him down now, give it your all!"

But before anyone could take a step forward, the golem took it first, making the ground shake and their feet stutter to function. The monster launched forward, ready to catch the guildmates by surprise, but Bakugou had his sword ready, his hand also readied for whatever that fucker was trying to do—

But before he could land a hit on the guild, a pillar of rock surged from the ground, punching the golem in its guts and making it topple before a full swing of fines poked from around him and attacked it, tying the monster to the ground, tightening enough to make the monster scream, probably at the verge of choking. Bakugou's eyes widened in warning, and suddenly, it was getting darker— the sun seemed to have gone away, it was as if time had gone by in just a second, and when he followed the track of the rock magic, the moon was shining proudly.

Two figures stood on top of the president's cabin, the moon making their figures dark enough to not be distinguished, but he knew that presence, this everlasting night time that chased any fight that followed them. His breath hitched, his eyes pulsed and shook in what seemed to be a primer of fear in the leader.

"It can't fucking be…" growled he, squinting at the two figures. Their uniforms were blowing in the wind.

Kirishima gulped. "Is that…?"

"The Purge, White Death and Moon Fairy!" exclaimed Todoroki, charging his arm in flames. "They must be the ones behind all this!"

In his critical state, Bakugou could only say yes to that and look at them daringly. His eyes shone under the blaring moonlight, stars dotting the clear sky, but crimson red stared at the two, as if screaming at them to come if they dared. Shinsou straightened his posture, frowning at the small unwanted committee. "That's gotta be our objective." he looked at her once before taking his staff out and jumping out from the cabin into the battlefield.

Air surged right up at him like blades, but the man handled the land perfectly. As soon as he did, without any recovery time needed, he sprung forward to get all those he knew would get in his way. He wouldn't be being merciful to whoever interfered in his business. Bakugou saw him flash forward right past him after the enemies Grinning Blade was fighting, making his own mates stare at the scene in disbelief.

Should they go after those mercenaries, or make sure that monster stayed where it should? The golem seemed to be idle for now, so he had no other option but switch back to his original plan. "Fuck!" they looked at him, seeing Bakugou clench his fists with a squared jaw. "Get rid of those fucking assholes, we ain't have all day!"

Bakugou stared up at the figure that was still observing the scene, making Uraraka gulp, yet sigh and decide to fuck it, bang it and destroy it, as this was her mission and he wouldn't be getting in her business ever again. She hopped off the platform and landed on the ground on her feet, making the battlefield shake and some hats topple off. But the hidden figure still stood sane and healthy, getting up again and walking to the monster as if no one was there—

But Bakugou wasn't having none of it. He came from a side and attempted to slice her in half with his sword, yet failed as she effortlessly jumped away from him. "Where do you think you're going, bastard?"

Uraraka landed a few meters away from him, watching his frame skid against the ground. When he recovered from her dodge, he stood proud and tall, smirking with that awful shit-eating grin of his— just as she remembered him. A wave of nostalgia pulsated through her, crossing time and space, making her wonder if this urge to cry at the sight was something she should be feeling.

What should she be feeling at seeing this feral man wanting to kill her this badly? He knew she was dangerous, judging by the careful holding of his sword and how cautiously he was observing her despite the arrogance that ran in his blood. Obviously, he thought he could take her down. She didn't doubt him at all— yet didn't doubt herself either.

She had let him beat her down one too many times.

She had promised to herself this wouldn't happen again. And no matter what her feelings for this man were, she would stick to it.

"Moon Fairy, eh?" she seemed startled at the way he spoke her name, like a mix of venom and sheer distaste. Uraraka knowingly looked at a side from under the hoodie that hid her face, scowling at the small handicap that the night trick supposed. In the end, she'd have to be cautious, just like he would. "I can see where that awful nickname comes from."

She was tempted to be blunt and talk like she always had, but both intimidation and the risk of being recognized held her back. Kirishima hadn't recognized her, but Bakugou, in his state of hatred for her, definitely would. A part of her wanted to hope he knew she was alive and well, but how would he take her taking sides with his enemy? Would he repent from being a bastard to her in the past, or shield himself once again and put barriers between them again?

No matter how she looked at it, they were at stage zero. And she couldn't let her feelings, whatever they were, interfere with her job. He kept on talking. "I won't be foolish enough to say I'm gonna beat your ass, I'm hella sure you can handle mine in a silver platter." his weapon started steaming off a very familiar liquid, melting off the blade. "But I know what your deal is, and I ain't gonna let scum like you hang around town."

And he truly meant it. Uraraka could recognize the liquid that was dripping from his weapon, probably due to the heat he was forcing on it with his ability to inflict more pain in her. He had taken the time to actually poison his blade. No wonder there were so many people in the—

Before she could complete her train of thought, Bakugou flung himself to her with a bang of his ability, only to be rejected as he hit a solid wall in his way. Confused, the leader looked up at the interruption, so unexpected and damn simple he swore at his exhaustion and inability to think twice in the night. His eyes trailed up the concrete wall, only to find that his hit had barely damaged it, and found his opponent sitting on top of it, peering down at him.

He couldn't see her expression, or barely her hands, but he could tell she was mocking him— which, as a matter of fact, she wasn't. If anything, Uraraka was thinking her moves, but Bakugou would never see that. "Oi, what the fuck are you staring at? Come down here and fight me!"

The girl only stared at his impatience, and wondered what would happen if she gave in to her past and refused to hurt him— only to shake her head and stand up in the wall she had created, whipping her cloak behind her. Her eyes looked down at him, darkened caramel meeting the same damn burning crimson she had been fond of. Once. Was she, now?

"Forgive me for this." and Uraraka leaped off the edge, so suddenly that Bakugou barely saw it coming, as her hands summoned a great deal of energy that, when contacting with the ground beneath her, exploded into thunderbolts, lights and fire that shook the whole battlefield. In the distance, Shinsou watched her opponent skip the attack with a jump, almost flabbergasted at her sudden energy.

Her hands were surrounded in thunder and static energy, making her look like a goddess Bakugou wasn't sure if he should worship or not. But for the fierce look he could see under the darkness of her disguise, he would respect her. Startled, he barely had time to compose himself. "What the…"

Uraraka was quick on her feet, but Bakugou was great moving along the battlefield. She sent a sea of fire arrows his way, which he deflected with his sword while going close to her, running and running until he was trying to blow her away with his sword, which she herself blocked with a shield of plasma. They continued clashing, his sword crashing with her shields and various magic spears she could muster, all done in such a rapid pace he was barely keeping up with how many weapons she had created and destroyed in a split second.

When Uraraka found an opening, she wrapped her hand in a quickfix of iron, spreading it forward until it would cut the skin of his abdomen, a hand on her wrist to control the influx. Using this technique made her incredibly sick, as she was basically weaving elements in her body temporarily, as if borrowing them, to attack her opponent. She knew that, however, deep down, if it had been another person, she would have stabbed him and let him rot.

She hated this weakness, but withdrew her weapon and felt her body respond to it with a shake. Bakugou clutched his side in pain, looking at her panting frame, both wiping dirt and sweat off their jaws. "'The hell are you even made of, Moon Fairy?" he was almost scared that someone would go as far as that and actually execute such attack with this accuracy.

Uraraka frowned, and looked at him definitely, trying to recover from this tactic. If she knew how to handle weapons like the rest did, she would be better off wielding them— but this was what she was best at. Shinsou looked at her from the distance, both teams still after seeing Bakugou getting attacked.

"Fairy ain't losing time, ain't she?" everyone became aware of Shinsou's presence and took a fighting stance again. Thanks to the hoarseness in his voice and the ruckus from the scene back there, no one could match his voice to Grinning Blade's leader, and his guildmates were handling the loose ends with the shitty contestants. "He must consider her a powerhouse if he's going there himself, the strongest hunter from this nation. Wise idea."

Todoroki stepped close to him, taking the initiative as Kirishima gauged going there to help his leader. "What is your business here?"

Shinsou looked at him lazily. "Our business? We have a job to do." he wouldn't be giving the little prince the chance to figure out stuff that wasn't his own. "You guys are just dragging us down. And judging by how fierce that guy is being back there, you all know who we are."

"Of course we do— hold on!" Kirishima was able to recognize that voice, as when he had been put to sleep, he could recall the remains of this man's voice and… a gentler one, but he couldn't pinpoint where or when he had heard that one. Regardless, he frowned at his foe from the day before, readying his knives. "You are the guys from yesterday!"

Todoroki looked at his peer. "These are the guys that ambushed you?"

Shinsou stomped his foot on the ground, sending them all to the ground— and prayed Uraraka would avoid this small spell. "We didn't ambush him, he came to us saying we were from the Jirou clan like he knew everything in this damn world." as if it was an insult, the sorcerer feigned offense for the sake of drawing the line. "Superficialisms won't take you anywhere."

No one could stand up, but Jirou slowly drew her plugs to a crevasse on the ground while Shinsou told the group off. Todoroki saw this and while trying to fight the gravitational pull, he grimaced. "We know what your business is outside of this town! Don't try to tell us you are all good and sparkles when you are the total opposite!"

"Good and sparkles?" he chuckled. "Your definition of good and sparkles is definitely different to the one fairy and I share. You know, things aren't as black and white as you see it."

Kirishima grunted, and managed to get up as Shinsou weakened his pull a notch. However, the redhead was brought to his knees once again, yet he got up again. He didn't know what Shinsou's intentions were, but he most certainly wouldn't be dying at his hands. "You never answered my question… who the hell are you two?"

This question took the sorcerer by surprise. It was something that not many people would ask them in such serious note— if anything, they'd ask as an insult as if they were… _aliens_. The thought made Shinsou chuckle at the irony of this life. "We may be total aliens, we may be rogue and we're probably the most dangerous bunch you will cross paths with as of late. I'm a thick-skinned person, rough, and undeniably strong."

Jack called out a small earthquake that broke the gravity pull, letting her and Todorki stand up fully while Kirishima relaxed, muscles loosening. Really, these guys were… annoyingly strong. It made him wonder what the future would hold if this were to happen again. "And what about this… fairy you speak of? The girl fighting Bakugou?"

Shinsou tilted his head a little, then looked at the flashy fight that was taking place behind them. He brought his hand to his nape and smirked in a sly, cunning gesture that had Jack gulping. "Oh, her? She's definitely more soft-heartened than I am… but she will end up hardening. It's only a matter of time this happens. And when she does…"

Shinsou let his hands be swallowed by white fires, steaming a faint cold aura as his eyes were lit up. "When she does, she will become your fucking queen!" and he launched a hale of wind and fire that Todoroki swatted away with a sweep of his sword, and tried to take him down with a strike that Shinsou denied all too quickly, making the prince stagger and be vulnerable for a second the sorcerer took advantage of, and pushed him away with another slap of his flames.

Surprisingly enough, as the knight rolled away and stood back up, he realized his clothes hadn't been burnt, and that he was mostly fine other than the impact on the ground. What had that been for? What was that element even about? Judging by the sneer in the sorcerer's expression, it was as if it was more important than what it looked like, thus making everyone cautious.

Regardless, Kirishima sprinted up to him and tried to take him down with his knives, as if for payback from what had happened earlier. "You two are just pawns from the mafia!" he grunted, avoiding a hale of wind from his enemy. "Reveal yourselves before we have to force you! We are hunting your people down."

Shinsou wanted to reply, but no one was really giving him a rest. Todoroki was attacking from behind while Jack tried to break his grounds under his feet, and Kirishima tried to swing his knives at him and not really giving the sorcerer a way to either slow down and come up with a powerful spell or simply shake them off. Uraraka was the fast one of the duo, he was more the thinker and she was the doer.

He was at disadvantage and the thought was giving him chills and a fair sense of danger. He frowned at everyone that was trying to take him down and attempted to push them all away with a shockwave on the ground that everyone skillfully avoided, making him stagger because he didn't have enough stamina to perform bigger spells, having wasted it all in his previous knockout for the colossus which needed a lot of strength to actually put him away.

Shit. But he couldn't let them defeat him so easily. If Uraraka had been in his place, he was sure he would have been able to do this. A part him knew Bakugou somehow knew this arrangement would play against him, but another thought he wanted to have a showdown against fairy.

Certainly, they had a questionable notoriety among most guilds and towns. No wonder he wanted to get rid of them despite not really knowing what their intentions were. Rash as ever.

Shinsou groaned when Todoroki's flames touched his uniform, singing parts of his skin. He didn't have time to lament this wound, as he had to dodge Kirishima's knifes and Jack's whip. If he got enough space, he would—

Then, the unexpected happened. Jack's whip, wrapped in flames and electricity, tied around half of his body and knocked him to the ground, making the mighty sorcerer fall to the ground with a loud moan of pain. His exhaustion and lack of sleep, too anticipated for his father's plans, had backfired on him spectacularly. "What the— you can't do that!"

Jack tightened her grip on the wiggling mercenary, looking down at him, knowing he had somewhat underrated her after not daring attack her. "I can." she showed him a series of gems in her hands, which she let fall to the ground and shatter. "Asui sure can teach some handy emergency moves."

"Is your hand alright?"

Jack looked at her wounded hand and nodded at Todoroki. "Just a measly thing. Should heal later. The effects of these techniques sure are annoying."

Kirishima smirked at the man that had dared try to knock him down earlier, pushing a foot to his body in an attempt to turn him around and reveal his identity. "Looks like we turned tables, eh?"

The purple haired man grunted, then looked at the fight between Uraraka and Bakugou. They had once talked this out: being undercover was their first priority as to not risk their past guilds' reputation and good name. If they revealed his identity to the world, everything they had worked for would be absolutely ruined in a matter of minutes— and he wasn't having that.

With a last spark of energy, Shinsou shifted with his hands to put them on the ground and direct all his remaining energy to the golem behind them, and panted as a enormous thorned vine started cracking the grounds beneath them, surging through the rocks and suddenly emerging to snap the now weakened vines in twain, releasing the monster from its provisional prison.

Everyone heard the snapping noises, and how the golem roared to life after being released, making everyone turn to look at it, including Bakugou, who stopped the fight to look at the unfolding scene. "Hah? What the fuck is this now!?"

Uraraka tried to tie the monster back together, but Bakugou wasn't having none of it, and swung at her with enough efficiency to cut the ties of her hoodie, brushing her chin. "Ugh…"

He didn't give a fuck about the monster now, his peers could take care of it while he sorted the trash out. He held his blade in front, glaring at her. "You're… a damn pest!" he let out a heavy pant of frustration and hidden exhaustion, but he was stronger than to give up so soon. Above all, when he had this… foe in front of him, just as beaten up as him but refusing to give up with a determination that reminded him of painfully clear eyes, a smile, and then a freezing corpse rotting in his useless hands. People like her were nothing but a good riddance— yes, when they made him go crazy as the previous night, seeing Urarakas where there were none.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" spat he, hands shaking as dreadful images came back, reminding him of thoughts he had sworn to never live through again. "I'll get rid of every and each one of you!"

A slice of energy tried to cut her in twain, only for her to deflect it wrong and make Bakugou dodge, making it arrive straight to the roaring monster behind them, some meters away. It was startled by this energy swing and growled loudly, halting all fights in awareness that this monster would be striking anytime soon after being triggered like this.

"Fairy!" at this scream she looked at, finding Shinsou already beaten up. Seems like their alliance would be over sooner than expected, seeing how the tides were turning. "Do it now!"

Uraraka leaped away from Bakugou silently, but he still realized this and turned to her— all too late, as when he realized her distance, light was already wrapped around her in the seal that shone under her feet, her hands twined in a prayer to then spray forward in a frown of fierce anger and concentration, knowing this was her last opportunity.

And for a split second, Bakugou _saw_. And he wanted to think this was… a dream.

But she was already past this, and flung her magic all over the battlefield with a sweep of her hands, breaking the seal. "World Order: Two!"

And before the world turned to black, he saw greenery appear, vines shooting from the ground in an awfully loud noise— he thought the world was ending, but it was only being covered in wood, sand, the faint smell of forests, and the distant image of her walking away from him taunting his mind until he broke down and fainted.

* * *

"Ugh…" his hands touched hard, dried soil, and felt them undeniably tight and… strained? He tried to wiggle free, yet to no avail. "What even is…"

When his eyes fluttered open, he found stabbing light to be wafting around the scene, making him have to adjust his eyes to the newfound daylight. It seemed like their night spell was done for the moment, making him gasp in realization that then, they had both depleted their stamina in this ultimate spell.

His head craned to a side, and he was tugged up into a sitting position. Surprisingly enough, no one had removed the hoodie from him— in fact, it was the only thing shading his eyes as sunlight filtered through the vines of the new forest, the greenery ceiling dotted with holes. The earth under his touch was undeniably tough, grainy, and hot.

He groaned as he opened his eyes again, and Shinsou was met, unsurprisingly, with the frames of Kirishima and Todoroki. Jack was nowhere to be found, so he guessed she had gone around for a quick search. Shinsou also realized that Bakugou wasn't around, and assumed he had ended somewhere near fairy after the spell.

Gunhead was going to have their head for transforming his coliseum into a forest maze. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even seen him trying to interrupt the fight— if he had been in the cabin that is, because he hadn't been able to check in the heat of the fight.

Weird.

Kirishima and Todoroki weren't even pointing at him with his weapons. They just stared down at him, judging his position. They seemed to be waiting for him to be more awake so they could shame on him more. In fact, Kirishima scoffed at him, tired of this charade. "You're finally awake."

It didn't even sound rude— his voice was as warm and kind, yet full of a venom triggered by discordia and immense enthusiasm to get the issue over with. Todoroki nodded, and took a step forward. "Tell us who you are or we'll be the ones making the curtain go up."

Of course, the man refused profusely. He knew he was going to lose this battle already: his hands were tied, he was sure that his body was drained enough to not be able to move or stand up. If he had slept some more the night before and gauged his attack better on the colossus, he would have pulled it off perfectly well.

But well, if this was how destiny wanted to play it out, he was no one to judge. "Whatever."

And with that, Kirishima also stepped forward but before he could even touch the hoodie, Shinsou flung his head forward to whip if backwards, letting the fabric fall on his neck with a flop as both boys stepped back in sheer fear at the image before them. Shinsou blinked back the light and shook his hair into shape, groaning at the lack of covering. Regardless, his expression of absolute boredom never changed.

"Shinsou, it's you!" he almost wanted to roll his eyes at the shock— it was too palpable to be real, but it was also too palpable to be fake. It was almost amazing that no one had expected this to happen, or at least _framed_ him. Todoroki's shock was surprising. "I want to say I'm completely taken aback but I should have seen this coming."

Knowing the shitty people they took the Purge to be, he took it as an insult of the worst kind. "Untie me already. You already know who I am."

Todoroki flickered a flame to the ties and the leader was fast to wiggle free, rubbing his wrists. Both boys knew he was serene enough and smart to not attack them while he was at his lowest. It would take him some time to recharge— time during which they could interrogate the shit out of him.

"What are you even doing here, Shinsou?" asked Todoroki. "You were the leader of a guild— when we heard you had disappeared it was said you had gone on a hunting mission and never came back."

The other man looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Rumors suck when they have no base." he sighed. "The high members from my guild knew about me going on an important mission, it was your fault you didn't bother to check."

Kirishima was thoughtful at this. When he had first asked Bakugou due to rumors going around the market, the leader had simply said he had probably gone to do some shady hunting — finally, he had added, because he was so tired of that bastard — but Kirishima should have expected he was doing something more important than this.

But he had more to say, and frowned in anger. "Despite your turbulent intentions and ideologies, you were the leader of a successful guild. I don't even understand why you would join a criminal, illegal clan so easily after all that has happened." he tried to comprehend it, but obviously couldn't— but knew Shinsou wasn't really searching for proof of innocence, seeing how he wasn't justifying himself either. "Was it because you were frustrated with being the runner-up? Did you think you were weak?"

The other smirked, shaking his head. "I don't mind strength as I mind my objectives, reason why I had to leave." his voice was clear, as assertive and clear as ever. "This we are going through is a step. And I doubt any of you will be stopping this anytime soon."

No one was expecting such confidence and clarity in his answer, and raised an eyebrow in response, almost skeptic. " _This_?" Todoroki's voice was edged, trying see through Shinsou's words but failing to, as a dark mist surrounded them— and he didn't like it a single bit. "What are you even talking about?"

The sorcerer closed his eyes in meditation. Should he tell them about his plans? What would it change? He knew the cards would play in his father's favor, and they couldn't hurt him out of the battlefield either, with him being the head of a neighboring guild. He wanted to think they knew better than to declare war on a guild with more members in a moment of crisis. In this state, he was invulnerable to anyone, he was free to do as he desired.

"Nothing of your incumbence, there's nothing you can do to stop it from happening. I left to fulfill a part of my mission— and that's something my companion and I have cleared already, I believe." he dared to stand up, hands up as to let them know he wouldn't pull out his— now that he realized, he had probably lost it. "Whether we are split up or not, I have already thrown my stone into the lake. You all will end up doing the same and contributing— it's what's meant to happen."

Kirishima was sharp and straight to the point, and remembered that particular other member that had been fighting Bakugou with what seemed to be the upper hand. "Your companion— where is he?"

"Beats me. _She'll_ be perfectly fine, and with or without me, she will do as she's been told to— she's not a stupid woman." Todoroki have him some thought. Whatever Shinsou's intentions were, if they were as rumored, it wasn't good news, and having his powerful pawn on the loose wasn't a good idea either. He frowned at the way he was talking about her, and felt there was a trick to it.

He talked about her as if she was under his control. A part of him believed she wasn't. "Shinsou, you are practically under our control. We won't torture you, that's not our way— but you know us." the knight spoke gently, but with an aggressive edge. "You have to at least tell us her identity, you know we won't let you two around."

"It's not a matter of us being active as a duo— the effect of the time that has passed is everlasting. It has happened before. It will happen again." that was what his father had told him, and Aizawa was not a liar. "No matter where you put us two, we won't be separated that easily. Make no mistake, I have no fondness towards her, but we will still have a mission to accomplish. We will be fulfilling it as time passes."

The more Shinsou spoke, the weirder it all sounded and the less sense it made. What was he even talking about? Clearly he knew what he was saying— but why so coded? What was even this mission they had? "Shinsou, you aren't making any sense. Trust us whatever criminal business you want to take part in with your partner will be closely looked on—"

"Oh, I never said this mission was specifically action-orientated. But it's alright, you will never understand— she doesn't, either, and that's why we are here as well. _She doesn't want to understand_ , but she will, soon." he decided to cut the root of this topic immediately, he was tired of showing birds to the blind. "Now, if you wish to meet my partner, she's probably sorting out her end. I doubt you will find her."

"We are more capable than we sound." assured Kirishima. "However, if you were really sure of your partner's strength and the validation of this mission thing you got going on, why are you trying to hide her so?"

That was a good question. "We made a deal to go on incognito until we were over hunting the Jirou clan. And please, don't give me that look— didn't we try to tie the beast down earlier? We have been recommended with a mission to go after that mafia."

"So that's this mission you talk about so vaguely?"

"Oh, no, that's a whole other story. But our main focus is finding the headquarters of this clan. The other part is more of an underlying issue she will come to terms with soon and we will take care of when the time comes."

The redhead looked at him aggravatedly. "For fuck's sake, so you aren't on a criminal business?"

"Did I ever say I was?"

No one would ever admit to be a criminal, but it was true that maybe they had judged and joined Shinsou's mentality and his runaway too soon. However, his way of speaking about missions, ends and destiny so ominously wasn't helping him either. "You being silent and refusing to help us find your mate isn't helping your image at all." Todoroki sighed. "If you say your mission is so strong, if you truly are going after the Jirou mafia and if you truly believe your companion is as strong, help us lure her to us."

Now, that was an interesting offer. Aizawa wouldn't be very happy to know they had revealed their identities, much less that they had sided with people he would meet as enemies someday— but Shinsou realized that if all was as predestined and fatalistic as planned, then all these inconveniences didn't matter at all. Time and thought would be the ones to play the game.

So he decided it wasn't a bad idea to join forces. "I see how it is." he shoved his hands into his pockets and rubbed the back of his neck. "Whatever. There shouldn't be any problem with any of it." but he has one last thing to say. "But I will let you find out her identity yourselves— though you must be really stupid to have not figured it out."

Kirishima had started walking away with Todoroki, both hoping Shinsou would willlingly follow, but had to turn around to face him again. Kirishima was the first to speak. "That pawn of yours… we will find her regardless."

Shinsou shook his head silently, serious and dead silent.

"That's not what I mean." again, these people clearly weren't in his wavelength, but they would be someday soon. "However, I will let you know, this woman isn't at all my pawn— she's the farthest point from it." he let the words set in before he sighed and looked at the dead in the eye, frowning and breaking his serene features with what seemed like a murderous threat.

"It's not _me_ you should fear from us two."

* * *

Birds were chirping somewhere above him, and he didn't need to open his eyes to see there was sunlight above him, too blatantly warm. Everything seemed different from a few minutes ago, as if the world had changed with the snap of fingers, winter shifting to summer and rendering Bakugou motionless on the ground.

His body was numb, but even in his numb state he could tell he had taken severe hits from that guy's spell. He couldn't even remember how he got here, just remember wind surging from within, dark vines dashing around him before he was knocked out along with most probably everyone in the battlefield. He must have been tossed around very badly to end like this.

"Guh…" he tried to flinch and get up, yet his side was hurting— but there was something warm pressed against it, and a shadow came to cover the sun that shone above him. Bakugou wanted to close his eyes, but he also wanted to enjoy the healing magic. "What… the hell…"

This warmth… it was so familiar, so unique and so relaxing. He had felt this one day, just one that he had let the curative streams into his body. However, as soon as he grunted out like that, the figure gasped, and the warm current was gone in a flash.

He heard the person leap away from him, landing some feet away, and he took the opportunity to sit up with his eyes still closed, hissing. Bakugou touched across his chest and arms, and was surprised to find out his wounds were closed and that his muscular pain was no more than a dull ache underlying in his body.

His scarlet eyes opened to the greenery and immediately searched for his savior. A second later, he was met with the very same figure that had made this mess a few steps away, holding the unconscious human body of the colossus on her shoulder, looking at him carefully.

Bakugou was speechless for a solid minute, trying to find words to say. This person who was presumably his enemy had helped him out— not from a deathly threat, but whoever this was had gone out of their way to help him out. It made him realize that maybe things weren't as jaded to black and white as they seemed.

As they stared into the other in silence, Bakugou guessed that he should be the one to speak first. "Thanks, I guess. Not like I would have fucking died— but thanks, anyway."

Finally, the figure nodded and hopped onto a big mossy branch of the forest, looking up to find an exit to the roof of the maze. Bakugou stood up and decided that attacking her right away. His hands were deeply irritated with the overuse of his ability, and his sword had been lost in the heat of the battle, he would be beaten up pretty badly.

Uraraka looked up into the sun before turning her head to him, wind blowing on her hoodie as sun filtered into her eyes. The body on her shoulder, so surprisingly light, was shifting on her hold, but she could examine him for a little longer.

His hair was as wild as she remembered, his muscles clenched as hard as they did in sight of danger and those heavenly eyes… so red, scarlet and crimson glaring into her with daggers, fire, and coal— stuff that he would have never done to her at a certain point in the past.

Would he, now? How would he ever react knowing it was her under this hoodie? In the end, she didn't want to know. He had never cared for her, did he?

Her chin dipped down, and she looked forward again to the exit, jumping branch by branch with the body on her with the speed of a panther, disappearing from his sight two seconds later. All she left behind was the scent of mint and a rush of spring new breeze at her wake.

But then, Bakugou remembered the brown honey he had reached to see before she had attacked, and the unmistakable chill of fear that ran down his spine. That feeling… only one person in this world could give him that look with such molten eyes.

There was no doubt. "So that's who you are, huh?" but he couldn't bring himself to believe that, it _had_ to be but it just _couldn't_ be true. He clenched his fists. "Fuck."

It turns out he'd have to do some deep thinking tonight. But for starters, he'd have to get out from that maze and later hunt down that witch.

He would be getting her back soon. He'd rescue her from the shadows of destiny again.


	7. C h à p ť e r 1 5

**[A/N]:** /evil laughter in the distance, did u miss me I sure hope YOU DIDN'T BECAUSE I'M SLOW AS FUCK I'm so :c sorry but university life and JUST DRAMA AND FAMILY TAKES MY TIME also not to mention I'm disturbingly uninspired sometimes and I either write 5k or fucking 10 words where's the between section huh BITCH WHERE.

Either way enjoy it and don't forget to donate to my money fund in the depths of hell, you gotta take the tram to get there ok bye

* * *

"Take that stone."

It was like a hide and seek game, it had always been. She could probably hide for days on end that no matter the chore or the order, Uraraka would comply– meek, maybe, sometimes with more backbone than usual, but in the end his voice made her follow and it still remained a mystery as to why this happened.

It was a familiar voice. But unlike the voice of her past guildmates, it was a cold, empty and heartless baritone. She wondered if once upon a time, he actually held any regard for her. He… probably never did.

Uraraka took the stone and walked to her mentor. The day was awkwardly cloudy, yet held some small clearings in between them to let sunshine seep into the clearing of the forest, making some patches of the lake they were at shimmer. The light was perfectly set to draw a great painting, or to lay down and relax. However, those rights had been robbed from her the moment she stepped away from the village.

She wouldn't regret that decision, nonetheless. "Never knew you were a fan of minerals."

"I never said we'd be inspecting them." then, he pointed at the lake, which she looked at expectantly. "Throw it."

"As in, toss it?"

"Make it leap on the water. Haven't you ever–?" he caught himself in time, and took one of his own from the small pile he had behind him. "Forget it. Of course you never have."

After this, Uraraka threw the stone to the waters. It was a very frail toss, brushing the calm water before skipping once, twice, three times, until it plopped and sadly sunk to the waters, barely making a sound. It was as if the calmness around them wouldn't let any sound escape the clearing of the forest. She could barely remember how they got there in the first place.

Aizawa threw his, and it did some more leaps than Uraraka's. He knew this would irk her a little, and gave her a few more stones so she could play with them. She took them, biting her tongue and her competitive fiber to just go on making them jump on the lake. She knew trying to provoke her mentor would barely do anything to the situation.

The gray and beige clouds were reflected in the water so clearly it was as if the stones were flying to heaven and melting into the metallic canvas. It was so beautiful to see and watch, the waves rippling through the natural painting. She was so engrossed by the image that she only snapped out of her reverie when a breeze and Aizawa's stone woke her up from her reverie, seeing his stone skip and die again.

Right before she threw hers again, a detail called her attention. A few feet away from her teacher lay some fleeting rocks on the water, paving the path to what seemed to be the other side of the lake, zooming into the distance, where she couldn't reach out. The path looked sturdy enough to walk over it, yet it was unassured you wouldn't fall down in the way.

"A pretty path, right?" she tensed up at the voice, but didn't feel scolded at all. It wasn't how their dynamic, their deal worked. "It sure looks like a fun walk."

He wasn't mistaken. While one could step a little more and walk around the actual lake, it looked much more entertaining to jump one's way through the water, on the fleeting steps– above all in this beautiful scenery. With the way the sun was now, her shadow would barely touch the water.

"Would you take that path, though?"

She halted her toss once again to look at her teacher, who was still throwing them to the water as if they were discussing the weather. Something in his voice, maybe how distinctively hoarse it was and how he was avoiding her eyes– it all screamed uncertainty, therefore, fear in her heart.

"Imagine this picture," he threw another stone, continuing his discourse. "you have a bunch of children on your charge– ultimately, their lives depend on you." his stone skipped five times. "You are at this exact lake, and they wanna go to the other side. A bear is chasing you, so you want to get across quickly. The children wanna take the roundabout way, which is the quickest and safest for them, but you know that you won't be fast enough with so many kids, and the bear will catch you– and while you would defend the kids and let them get out alive, there is no reassurance _you_ will get out alive. And it pains your heart to leave the kids alone. It's not an option to leave them alone."

She kept being silent, looking at him in deep attention. He continued skipping stones.

"You want to take the path that goes across the water, knowing the bear won't follow you, and you think you can keep the kids safe, despite the risk of one or two falling to the water and being bit by piranhas. At the end of the day, you think this one is _the right path_." he looked at her in the eye for a split second. "Maybe not all of you will make it unscathed in the end, but this way you are sure _one way or another, everyone will end up making it across alive, scars or without them_. It will take longer, and after you all have stepped over, the path will disappear. The kids will have suffered big bites, but it will be over soon."

Uraraka stared at him intently. Then, he looked at the lake again.

"What path would you choose, Uraraka?"

The girl blinked, forcibly pulled out from the story to look at her stone, then curl her fingers around the thing. "I–"

"But there's a twist." that shut her up again. "What if I told you those kids had hurt you in the past?"

"Hurt me?"

"Imagine you had been… mistreated, misunderstood. Imagine being your best, yet being disregarded. Imagine just… not being enough for people who don't value you." Aizawa threw another stone to the lake. "They don't see your true you– and if they do, they don't value it. These kids… they won't see who you truly are. Imagine these kids also hold ill intentions against your dearest people– or those you held dearest in the past."

"Would it be this bad? Why are they with me if they seem to be like this to me?"

"They don't know it, but they got no option but to cling to you. In the end, the relationship between you two is purely tied by power and destiny."

Uraraka looked down to the stone again, seeing the small glimmers carved on it shine at the sun that peeked from between the clouds. Her eyes turned sorrowful, as if the situation was familiar, but the memories within her didn't lie: she hadn't lived this moment before. Still, her heart was gnawed with despair and a hint of bitterness. It was… an unpleasant feeling.

"I… don't know. I guess a bite or two wouldn't be bad to them if they have been this mean to me." she was almost murmuring it because she was almost ashamed of this, she was almost regretting it– but really, could she say she felt remorse? No.

The situation somehow resonated within her, making her look at her mentor and speak again. "Has this situation ever happened to you?"

He shook his head. "But I've seen people in front of me face these people– making their own personal grudge. It always ended the same way though, the judge being destroyed after it."

Uraraka guessed he meant destroyed by the emotional weight of facing and potentially leaving the people you'd give your life for. Caring for people who would bruise you this way… she brought her hand to her heart. She knew it hurt and it wasn't like she had lived it in such extreme ways.

The sun flared in golden against the lake, almost blinding her with heaven's weird sense of humor, and her brow knitted, bringing an amused spark to Aizawa's eyes, which deemed to a memory before he looked at the lake time, he took another stone and threw it to the lake– more like tossed it as high and far as possible, and the stone sunk with a pop in the distance.

Uraraka shuddered, feeling the stone sink to the depths.

"I wonder how much there's left until the final court opens again."

* * *

Uraraka woke up in her tight, thin mattress with a start of panic– a silent panic, gasping for air, sprawled in the mattress and eyes wide open. This was probably the only time she could fully recollect what her thoughts were, gathering them and realizing it had been little more than a stuck memory, and knowing she could fully remember this, the hand that had shot out for her small notebook out of instinct crawled to her bed again.

She sat up in her bed, hands to her face as she wiped the sweat clean. Looking at her hands, they were trembling, but other than that she was fine. Uraraka felt heavier than she had ever felt in what seemed like years, the bed felt smaller than it should. It was a passable sinking feeling, one she needed to get away from quickly.

She discarded the blankets off from her as if they were monsters, and threw on her uniform, her glove, the hoodie of her shoulder cover only to realize she needed a change of clothing soon. This armor was made to never break but it was getting stained after many travels. She equipped her cloak, pulling it over her head. There was a small array of sunshine peeking through a gap between the curtains, which widened to a great range when she slid them open.

The sun hit her straight on the face, but she only flinched at the sudden change. Afterwards, she stood on her toes to open the window and let fresh morning air burst through. Had their mission with Gunhead gone accordingly and she would have probably stayed at the Council's personal bedrooms, but there was no certainty she'd be well welcomed there after the ruckus they caused.

Besides, the only thing she wanted from this mission was the protection and rewards it guaranteed. The situation with the Jirou clan was something in her mission as well. So for that, she was safe. All she had to worry about was sorting out this business– one that she would have gone for herself even if her master hadn't demanded it.

She breezed through the door and passed by a woman with a basket of bread, and Uraraka greeted her warmly, knowing she wouldn't recognize her with the cloak on. "Good morning, little girl!"

Uraraka waved back and took a small bun of bread from the basket and munched on it, keeping it in her mouth while she shrugged her coat in place. The bread tasted good, gooey and light. "Fhankz fo' da meal."

Her voice was muffled by the bread and by the time Uraraka got it out of her mouth, the woman was laughing heartily. "I think there is coffee and tea downstairs, Marlene was babbling about it all morning."

Uraraka didn't know who this Marlene was but she was always up for a good breakfast. However, she had some things to do, like checking on her prisoner at the Council and looking for new gear in shops around her. Also, if she didn't find any clues as to where the clan could be or Shinsou's whereabouts, she would be running away as soon as possible.

She was mindful of the loose ends she would leave: her guild had probably figured out her identity if Shinsou was to be with them, and leaving her deal with Gunhead undone without talking the future out was risky as well– but she had little options. It was flee or face the Council for being this flashy.

"I'll have to pass. I have some places to be in today." which wasn't a full truth, just a half lie. She passed by the charming maid and waved goodbye at her, going down the small staircase like the breeze, ghostly flying down to the hall of the modest residence, where she had been sure no one would recognize her.

The Purge was an infamous group known among either elite guilds, politicians, or other rogue criminals from the suburbs. Their existence was more of a myth among townspeople who had been told about the "crimes" as, again, another rumor. In short time, their existence had become a legend for their apparent dark tone and mysterious appearance. As Uraraka saw it, they were stirring justice within corrupted groups.

But that was her opinion. _Maybe things weren't as black and white as they seemed_. Evil wasn't necessarily dark, if anything it was simply a different color than good's sunshine. And she was just complying to indirect orders from the master she had run away from. At least for now.

Seeing so many maids reminded her of a particular village, bringing back cloudy memories of the distant small town. As Uraraka tried to let her mind wander, a woman crashed with her as she scurried around, but the brunette apologized regardless. "My bad, sorry for being in the–"

"No need to apologize! Sorry for the bump!" and she was gone, running around from one place to another– in fact, the whole hallway was buzzing with activity and didn't Uraraka know the small budget of this building, she would say someone famous was dropping by.

Yet again, she didn't know what was the source of the ruckus– until she heard a loud deaf noise coming from outside, near the wide main street the residence was close to. Her head whipped to the window and rushed to it, discovering a mob of guards barricading the street. At this, Uraraka hummed in surprise, frowned, and quickly concluded Shinsou had probably something to do with this.

It's not like the Jirous would make an appearance at plain sight, and the town was relatively peaceful other than that. Wasn't this actually convenient, she could finally get to him and start planning things again with the conclusions she had gotten after interrogating the golem doppelganger. She stepped into the street and tried to listen in to the screams. There seemed to be some people involved in whatever was going on.

Those voices… she frowned. They seemed to be the same ones as those snarky bastards guarding the doors. And people behind them were screaming, despite Uraraka not being able to see them clearly. There was also a familiar sulphur smell that lingered in the air. Something was not right– but the environment around her was fine, _so maybe Aizawa hadn't been right?_ No bent houses, no twisted doorknobs, the waters were fine, what was so chaotic about today?

"Excuse me!" her voice rose and attempted to boom but it was meekly swallowed by the crowds. "Hey! I wanna get through!" of course they wouldn't listen because no one in this entire town fucking listened to a meek little girl like her. "Well then, I'll do it my way!"

Uraraka mustered some energy, and taking two steps back, she ran at breakneck speed through the mob, making them jump out of her way, her feet skidding across the sidewalk as she landed in the center of the commotion. "What the hell is…?"

Suddenly, the crowds started disappearing– as did the actual guards, all dropping to the ground in little balls that make her teeth grit, and looked at the man holding a simple purple anchor on his hand, smirking at her and Uraraka breathed out, as if relieved, and walked to him.

"Knew you'd have something to do with this." stated the sorcerer, walking to him slowly, a hand on her chest with a placid smile. "It's good to see you. I lost you after the tournament. No need to be so catchy though."

He nodded. "Sorry for the show, I literally didn't know how else to call your attention. At least it's too early for people to notice." but the girl frowned at this, because she knew Shinsou better than to be so flashy, and looked around. Her companion frowned. "What's up now?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Where were you all along though? You knew I'd be around the Council, you didn't need to bother being flashy." her eyes still looked around, suddenly suspicious, narrowing her sight. "What was the holdup?"

Something pointy jabbed on her back, and a terrible chill of fear ran down her back– then a hoarse, gravelly voice, one she knew very well that made her heart clap, her knees freeze, and suddenly all she could remember was how warm his arms had once (only once) been around her.

"We finally fucking got you, minx[1] [2] ."

Eyes widening, words rolled out of her mouth without her consent, frantic. "Shinsou, what is th–!"

Bakugou elbowed her on the head in order to knock her out, but held her against him as soon as she threatened to fall – proof that despite treating her as a terrorist, he was also contemplating the possibility of her being his past companion. He frowned at her, but didn't dare take the cloak off from her yet.

"What an easy way to lure someone in. Too fucking innocent to be a criminal." then, he charged her on his shoulder just as if she was a limping sack of potatoes, expression grim in an outburst of seriousness. "Thanks for the hint. Now go get your business done– or go fuck yourself, but we'll be watching you."

Shinsou smirked and tugged the high collar of his cloak to his chin, almost covering his mouth. "I ain't doing this for her, or you, or anyone for that matter. It will just make things easier in the short future." he started walking away then, waving at him with two of his fingers. "See you later, barbarian…"

* * *

She could hear the rain falling outside her house, and looking out the window, she couldn't feel the warmth of the sun, her hand pressed to the window pane with a grim expression framing her pretty features. The shawl around her shoulders hung loose, eyebrow wrinkled, and the only thing that woke her up from her reverie was Katsuki's steps in the shelter.

He shook a small sheet of jaded paper. "We got this jotted down. All I know is that girl must be somewhere around the mountains, it's where her house was, she must be hiding there." Ochako gingerly took the paper, staring at the blatant circle at a zone with triangles and grass. "Allegedly, that's where she scrambled to when she escaped your people."

Again, she wanted to tell him it was all lies, knowing her people were better than to kidnap and potentially torture a child just for power. She wants to believe herself but also believe Katsuki, their friendship now stronger, but avoiding a war is more important this once– beliefs buried under the lead of peace, and a tremble ran down her spine.

She really wanted to wrinkle that stupid map and throw it to the ground. But her people's peace was at stake and… she wasn't stupid. She just zeroed her eyes on the triangles and ignored how Katsuki was probably judging her people at the prospect of them torturing a child– if that ever happened. If she saw it with bad eyes, did he see her as someone capable of that, in secret?

She couldn't swallow that truth. It was too much of a hard, big pill for her. "Why this place, though?" she was stammering. "Is this anywhere your people have tried to go to?"

"No. It's allegedly the place your people kidnapped her from. That's supposed to be her prior home."

Home? That was a weird word. It surely was something she had and held close to her heart, but why was it that he said it with such passion? Sure, he was still abrasive and moody, biting like a dog in small doses of blind rage. She ever wondered if he saw her with another kind of negativity.

"Her… home."

He bowed forward the slightest bit, unamused by her emotional shit. "It's where–"

"I know what a home is, stop taking me for another dumb nobody." abruptly, the map was shoved to his chest. "When are we parting?"

He was for once taken aback at her sudden snapping, but as always, acted unfazed. If anything, it took him a little bit more than usual to answer. "We should be leaving tomorrow. We got no fuckng time to waste when there's some wanted brat running around."

Again, did he hate this mage? What was so wrong with her that made him feel so reluctant to leave in the first time? All this whole time, he had been acting enthusiastic to start the journey– but not in a good way. It was as if he was angry at her, at the world for forcing this task on him, yet did it anyway.

Every time this subject was brought up a new thread of questions was opened and he refused to close any of them.

After that exchange, Katsuki sulked off to do something else, leaving her to stare at the pounding rain outside. Her hand was pressed to the pane again, and she wondered how close the rain was to her, why it felt so distant, and why home seemed to be so far away, out of reach.

She wondered… if home had been lost to that mage, too. Maybe, just maybe, she would find the way to her home this time around.

* * *

Uraraka was tied.

That was the statement of the year. The ropes were somewhat heavy on her pristine wrists, dry and grinding against her pale skin. She could handle ties like any other human being, but considering how inhumanly tight they were – as if they didn't want her to go, which in retrospect made _a lot_ of sense – it made her feel especially uneasy. Adding the dim light that surrounded her and the fact that her feet could barely touch the ground only made the situation more aggravating.

She tried to wiggle her hands free, but didn't accomplish anything but some potential blisters. She wanted to use magic, even made the attempt to do so, but ended up realizing that this was probably her own past guild holding her captive at the moment, and knew they most likely didn't hold any ill intentions.

Unless it was Bakugou entering the door just now. Because someone just entered the room. If it was him, then she was _dead_.

Fortunately, the lightness of the steps that accompanied the hush of the door made her sigh in relief. The voice that came with it wasn't as pleasing. "You awake? We need to make you some questions."

Uraraka looked up from under the cloak they surprisingly hadn't taken off from her, and saw Midoriya looking down at her with crossed arms, his eyes stern yet as soft as they always were and she fondly remembered. Behind him were Mina and Todoroki, far enough to not be involved in the talk yet close enough in case she decided to spring back. They probably weren't that sure of who she was, and were fearful of her snapping.

She hadn't been exactly soft at the tournament. It was completely understandable. Uraraka nodded, throat dry. She had probably been here for too long for her body to bear– it was getting cold, her legs were numb, hands itching to be free, and that chair was getting harder the more she spent sitting on it. She would rather them make her speak, lest it ended up being unnecessary for her to do so willingly.

"We don't know if you are gonna cooperate, or if you wanna speak. You are lucky my peer is out on a special mission, otherwise he'd be punching all intel out of you and trust me, he was being literal when he said it." and she believed him, she always would. He was too brash for it to be true, yet also too honest for it to be a lie. Bakugou was a complicated man. "Also, it was Shinsou who handed you out. We haven't been chasing you around."

Midoriya was most likely saying that to fool her into thinking Shinsou was the bad one– who he was, for that matter. He hadn't even looked affected, or maybe he did… her memory was fuzzy, but whatever had happened had chilled her bones, made her angry, sad, all at the same time, and all she knew was that he was away and she was the one being tied down. It was… strange. Why would he even do that?

She looked at the ties linked to the chair, grim. It was maddening to see their brief complicity be over so easily. She wanted to think he had a plan to take her out, but if he had been the one to hand her to them – something she sadly believed – then she was on her own again. She was back to square one.

It was her against a guild, once more.

"We won't hurt you, as we think you are a valuable key to find the Jirou's lair– doesn't mean we will be merciful, either." and of course she knew this, but again, she probably had as much information on the matter as they had. "We'd rather you spoke willingly instead of us having to make the questions. You are somewhere safe, yet also far away from the street."

She tried to clear her throat, surprising everyone and putting them on edge, only for her to ask. "How… long have I been here?"

Todoroki spoke next, voice as calm and collected as she remembered. "About a day. You have been in and out of it for the last hours."

She nodded, and struggled against her ties again even if she knew it was futile. "I wish to be untied. These ropes are bruising my wrists." she stated, but of course was met with no answer because it was dumb to ask for release to these guys. If they wanted information, they could have gone for Shinsou, but who knows what lies he had told them. Regardless, considering her current background and her contacts, maybe she could look like someone of help.

Uraraka doubted they had interrogated any shady businessmen in a desert, or had the training them both had had. On the other hand, since they had a different perspective and set of contacts, perhaps it'd be of use for her to know what they knew, exactly. If good and less good could join forces, going after the major evil wouldn't be as hard.

She had been here for a day. All information they wanted from Shinsou, as far as she was concerned, could have been taken from him in a less forced way. She had no problem telling them what she knew, but more with what would happen afterwards. There was no burden in her heart regarding loyalty– she had given it up when she ran away into this undercover mission.

Regardless, she didn't know what they thought of her situation. And who knows if lifting her cloak would help her. When she spoke again, her voice was as hoarse as before. "I want water. And my ties off."

"How do we know you won't blast your way out of here when you are free?" asked Mina, arms crossed. Her shoulders had more muscle to them, it was obvious these people were ready to take her down– whether they'd fail at it or not was another story.

"For the same reason I don't burn my ties off and run away as you say." responded she. "All I want right now is to be free and be minding my business again." a business that wasn't really hers– the mission had been there, read between lines, and Uraraka's sense of justice had done all the rest despite Aizawa wanting this.

Again, she had never been forced to take this mission. He had mentioned he wanted to know where they were, and Uraraka's curiosity and prior encounters with Midnight had sparked the desire to both fly away and sort this mess out. It was the perfect excuse for the perfect runaway. One tournament and a betrayal later, she was being forced to spit out all she knew. Maybe it'd benefit her if they were willing to share their own intel and let her go.

Chances played against her though. "We won't hurt you, torture isn't by no means our methodology, but we are trying to get this done before Bakugou gets here and he gets physical on this matter. He is very involved in this particular issue."

The memory of him on a bed as he shook from the nightmares Midnight had purged into him brought chills down her spine. The blonde had reasons to want them gone, and so did she and probably the rest of the world. That energy she sensed… it was the most frightening sensation she had felt in a while. "Will you… share whatever information you have with me?"

The guild members shared a look between each other before Midoriya spoke again. "We aren't sure how trustworthy you are. It may be dangerous to spread all our investigations with people who are of doubtful origins."

Uraraka gritted her teeth at this. "Then why should I share mine with you? Where's the fairness in this?"

"We will always use whatever you know for a good purpose, something we aren't so sure you will do." Todoroki spoke with a bluntness that edged rudeness, something Uraraka sometimes crossed mindlessly. Whatever mind games they wanted to play with her wouldn't last forever. "We don't–"

"If you are so hell-bent on getting intel out of me, why haven't you even removed my cloak?"

Yeah, she sometimes was overly blunt. And her eyes widened a split second after blurting this dare, this bluff, because if they uncovered her identity she wasn't sure how they'd react. Maybe they already knew who she was– most probably, they didn't, but the sole possibility was frighteningly high and that doubt was killing her slowly.

This would have to happen one day. In the end, it didn't matter when. Regardless, they gave her an astonishing response. "We aren't searching for whoever it is under that hoodie, that's a matter for another day we can skip if you give us the data we are looking for."

"You guys are being awfully peaceful for such an unfair deal."

Her voice cleared.

It suddenly spoke with a clarity she hadn't found in days, probably in years, and everyone suddenly staggered at the familiarity of it now that the hoarse filter was off, breaths simultaneously catching and hitching and a bead of sweat ran down her temple, nervous at how the situation was starting to go downhill and suddenly, Mina had backed off to the door, Todoroki was dumbstruck and Midoriya was slowly approaching her.

Before he got to her, as if she wasn't actually there, he frowned at the rest. Todoroki spoke first. "It… can't be, can it?"

Midoriya knew best though, and… Bakugou had seen her, according to his endless rambling and angry presumptions that it had been her – more accurately, _that bitch that was going around town so late in the night_ – and sighed. "I…" Uraraka didn't even move an inch when he gingerly pinched the hem of her cloak and tried to look underneath. "Uraraka?"

She was a mixture of feelings that she didn't understand. The sorcerer felt shame for being discovered, but at the same time was overjoyed to finally be able to see her peers with them recognizing a familiar face. On the other hand, she was also scared to death of whatever she'd face after this, and what grudges they'd hold on her now that it was all... over– she had chosen a path that led away from her friends, and chosen the lonely life.

This had been what she wanted, to achieve power despite the loneliness. Why did it feel like she had ended up making the _wrong_ decision despite having reached her goal? Why did she feel so small again, in that jail room?

Why had Shinsou sold her in the end? Was it all really over and was it time for her to face the consequences of abandoning a guild so abruptly?

Then, Midoriya flung the cloak behind her head, and Uraraka took her bowed head backwards to look at her guildmates with a expression that screamed both regret yet a strong sense of security. She knew she had made the best decision for herself– but her eyes betrayed her. They _always_ did.

"I can't believe this!" Mina stepped closer, blinking in disbelief. "You were supposed to be– you…!"

Uraraka hunched her head down in shame, ready to take in all the insults for leaving, for deciding what was best for her alone, for not saying goodbye, for dying once and making it without glory, for attacking them at the tournament, for _everything_ –

But suddenly, Mina sobbed, making Uraraka look up in surprise to see her archer friend bringing her hands to her eyes. If she looked closer, Midoriya had small drops prickling at his eyes too. "I am so glad you are alright…!"

Todoroki nodded in agreement and Uraraka felt an invisible weight she had been carrying slowly drop from her back slowly and shatter as she stared at her… what should she call them? Friendship didn't seem like a suitable term just yet, but captors or kidnappers didn't sit right either. However, just the thought of them somehow understanding her made her feel alive again.

"We were so worried about you…" mumbled Midoriya. "When your body disappeared, we could only think someone had taken it away for whatever reason, or that you had run away– which was the correct solution all along but still… we lived in wonder, hopeful for you to be alive and someday come back to us and mourning you at the same time."

Uraraka blinked at this as she had never expected them to actually hold on to her or mourn her and it was so refreshing to see that if they thought she had run away, they seemed to understand why. Curious, Uraraka couldn't help but ask. "You guys aren't… mad at me? Despite teaming up with Shinsou?"

Todoroki shook his head and stepped around the chair. "We had seen how things unfolded around Bakugou. If he hadn't been so hell-bent on not overtraining you, he wouldn't have frustrated you so much." it was as easy as that. "Both of you pushed you into a decision that we don't know if it was best. that depends on you."

His hands lingered on her ties, once fixing to untie her but now, the story was different. The Uraraka he had before him was a grown up girl with no fear of facing them– she was Moon Fairy after all, and had beaten Bakugou's ass pretty badly. He didn't know what she'd do once she was free– maybe this was all a trap and she'd attack them, or maybe she'd just burst through the wall and dig her way up to the surface.

It was the first time Todoroki had a hostage he didn't know whether to freeze or free.

"Todoroki," the knight looked at his leader. "you can free her. She won't hurt us."

Midoriya had always had a good sense to see through this. Even in times of dark mist and clouded judgement, it seemed like that man had the eyes of a panther and the sharpness of a snake. Hell, even when Todoroki himself had doubted his own lineage and the people around him, Midoriya had always been there to convince him otherwise, clear the darkness and walk him down the right lane.

As he did his thing, Uraraka looked back to see Todoroki slowly undoing her tight ties. When they fell to the ground with a slight thump, she tiredly rubbed her wrists and hissed at the red blisters on them. "Sorry for that." said Mina. "I didn't wanna chance it too much."

"It's ok." Uraraka tried to stand, but her knees wobbled and she was sent down to her seat again. Her legs had obviously gone numb after so much time in captivity and she'd have to pay the price now. "Hell."

"You must be tired after so much action these days." said Mina, hooking an arm around her waist and helping her stand. "Let's get you to a bed now that you are back, we can talk about everything later, alright?"

Uraraka nodded and allowed herself to be carried out of the room, Todoroki and Midoriya trailing behind while speaking about something Uraraka couldn't quite comprehend, realizing how tired she was feeling. Maybe her body had gone systematically numb at the pressure on her limbs, or either given in to exhaustion. So many questions plagued her mind recently about her destiny, her past, her present, and it was complicated to handle that when you were supposed to be battling on almost a daily basis.

Besides, she hadn't been sleeping that much with so much side studying in her room at the Council. This would probably be one sleep of a kind considering how tired she was. "Thanks, Mina… and sorry. For… everything."

Mina only regarded with a considerate glance she peeled off from her a second after, sighing. "We'll get to that later, but just know…" she leaned in a little and hugged her closer to her side, offering her a fist. "Glad to have you back, sister… I'm so glad you are okay."

The sorcerer chuckled and smiled faintly, trying to regain her body's will to walk. Her fist shook to bump Mina's and both felt lighter at the confirmation that Uraraka was here to stay– for how long was unknown. "Yeah…"

She couldn't say she was glad to be back after the ways they had used to get her back, and she felt there was less light to the picture than what they were showing her. Regardless, she tried to use her last bits of strength to trust her past guildmates. She didn't know how much she'd be around anyways, with her mission at hand and the fear of her master looking for her.

Staying idle wasn't wise and it was all but her intention, but it'd have to do for now.

Mina took her to an actual room in the building they were. She couldn't bring herself to care about where this was, but judging by the lack of noises around her from outside, they probably weren't as near the city as she had been. In fact, it was all silent except for the chatter somewhere around her, places where she came to the awkward conclusion that Bakugou wasn't there. The fact that his absence sat with her so weirdly made her stomach churn uncomfortably.

Why did she care?

She shouldn't care.

But she cared. She always had. Maybe a bit more than necessary. But that was something she wasn't willing to deal with right now. Thinking of the very few gentle interactions they had had in the _past_ wouldn't help their situation… if they had a situation, that is.

A door was swung and she was introduced to this small room with a window to its left, very similar to the one she had had in her past days, sans Edgar sitting on the small of the windowsill. Mina awkwardly helped her walk into it, and Uraraka zeroed her eyes on the comfy duvet and how fluffy the pillows looked, unlike the ones at the Council that were not as welcoming.

This place looked like a home. Whatever she had been doing before this and wherever she had been at was centuries away from this, and her shoulders sunk as the archer let her pad to the bed, stumbling slightly.

"I'll get you some water, and we can talk a little, I bet you are a bit shaken up." she turned to leave the room and fetch the glass, but turned when she remembered something else. "I'll also get you some…"

Her words died in her throat because Uraraka had limped to the bed and fallen face-first onto it, fast asleep with the gracefulness of a pigeon that had fallen from the sky and plummeted to the mattress. The hair was sprayed on the blanket, hands by her head and knees a bit bent, yet her boots weren't even in the bed. She must have been frighteningly exhausted, yet held onto it for the sake of duty.

Mina shook her head with a small smile, grabbing her feet to put them on the mattress, and covered her with a spare blanket that lay on a chair nearby. "Working yourself over the limit. Same old Uraraka…"

But she said this with a hint of fondness she could only use with her, knowing how rough she had had it and guessing she could wait for later. With that and a last glance in her direction, Mina walked out of the room and let her rest. Perhaps when she woke up everything would be the same as before, with covered issues and a peaceful dawn.

She wasn't as foolish as to really believe it. But it had been so long since she had dreamed and, maybe everyone was unaware of it, but the suffering this guild had gone through after her departure or apparent death had been as real as day.

For once, Uraraka found peaceful sleep. And for once in her life, she curled into herself and breathed in, breathed out, and finally got her deserved rest.

* * *

Uraraka slept for 3 days straight.

There was no disturbance in her sleep, nobody came to wake her up. However, when she finally rose from the bed, she knew it was morning. The birds chirped as happily usual, the sunshine streamed as lightly as usual, if anything brighter, the air felt light and she felt rested within the blanket bundle. It had always been the same before, yet somehow she had expected to wake as tormented as she had been these weeks.

The fact that she felt so weightless in a sea of old guildmates, the natural feeling, it was gnawing at her. Nights on end waking up exhausted and in a pool of sweat, it somehow came as strange to chase peaceful sleep that easily. Sleeping in that lavender bed had made a silver thread pop up, and her grabby hands couldn't help but chase it and fall asleep in dreamless slumber.

Of course when she woke up, she for one moment felt she was in her old guild, but the feeling was gone all too soon, both to her pleasure and dismay. She was stronger now, but also… alone in a crowd of faces, and she didn't know how to swallow that hard pill. Confusion marred her features and honestly, she didn't know how to get out of it. How was she supposed to accept the warmth again after being kept in the dark for so long– a darkness she had plunged herself into willingly?

She was terrified. In the calm of the storm and the moonlight of the night, she couldn't help but feel alone, out of the shadows of the self-seeked comfort and wondering what was in store for her out the doors of these four walls. Could she trust her surroundings again in this ever changing world to know she'd be okay?

Uraraka knew better than to trust again, not knowing for how long she'd be able to stay around her old friends, unaware of Shinsou's whereabouts– most importantly, unaware of that beastly barbarian's whereabouts and also his thoughts on her coming back because she still remembered he had been the one to actually trap her with Shinsou's help. Again, why had they fooled her this way? What was the point on them splitting up this way of all forsaken methods?

She knew her team work with Shinsou was solid despite their differences, and how their work was far from done told her this was done for an ulterior reason, that they'd meet again, and she fisted her hands, bunching the blankets with want. She was overcome with the need to both stay and nestle in the sheets forever. Why was her heart like this?

She couldn't hear rain in the sunlight anymore. No static, no demons, just silence, birds, and the calm after the storm. Or maybe before it. What was the truth if it wasn't that she didn't know where she was anymore?

Living in blissful darkness used to sound appealing. Right now, the silence and calmness sounded only like a trap, claws, some kind of anomaly, and she wanted to run away. The remains of her loyalty were what pulled her to stay. She could cooperate with them and make her mission culminate faster.

She now had to find where to begin to build her path back to normality after the rush of battles and harsh truths– from there, she'd decide what to do.

Yaoyorozu came in sporting a gentle smile and a glass of water, reminding her of old days where the overwhelming ruined times were at stake, and she couldn't help but wonder – as if it hadn't been important, which it had been and still was, in the back of her mind – if everything had been fixed when she destroyed RampAge despite the little sense she found in Bakugou's reasoning. The comforting relief that his words could bring had settled in her heart for a second, then vanished, knowing it all needed to be more complicated than just defeating a monster.

At least no major havoc had happened after the battle timewise, which was her main fear and what clicked on her to be strange if Bakugou's actual analysis had been right. The fact that nothing noticeable happened made her think that the issue was far more complicated for their understanding than she had expected, and she hoped everyone had noticed this. The world went on and on without taking notice of the beast being defeated, and she had a hunch this was not something they could eradicate that easily.

Her kind automatic smile had fallen into a thin line when the warrior got to her, a bit troubled with her thoughts to really pay attention to her kindness. Yaoyorozu dragged a chair to sit beside the bed and gave her the glass, shaking it a little so her focus would land again on her. "Drink up. You have to get that sore throat of yours into shape."

The girl gladly chugged the contents down and then held the glass in her seemingly weak hands, hands that could weave the world into whatever shape she desired. Her pads didn't touch the glass in fear of making it float away in her reverie. "How long… have I been asleep?"

"A pair of days. You clearly needed the rest– how long has it been since you had some good sleep like that?" the knight shook her head adamantly with an easy smile. Uraraka didn't realize she had missed those gestures in the emptiness of her caverned heart.

The girl looked at her dim reflection in the water and let her shoulders drop. "I don't even remember… not all beds are as comfy." she wiggled her shoulders a little, trying to shift the dull ache on her blades after days of ceaseless moving. Her companion took note of this and cocked her head.

"You could use a bit more of rest, it seems." she let out a little chuckle of surprise, then trailed her eyes over Uraraka's patches of skin that could be seen. Her skin was littered with little cuts like galaxies, some properly healed with what she deemed to be her own dexterity after Asui's lessons. Wherever she came from, it didn't look like a caring ambient. Who knows the wolves Uraraka had had to fight while she was gone.

She wanted to ask. She wanted to tell her everything that had happened while she had been gone, that they had missed her, that she wanted to hug her and that small dose of sadness out of her system. Something within her tingled to ask, to have her answers solved, to just– to know what was going on in that round head of hers.

Yaoyorozu was almost sure of where she came from. Those bruises, that serious expression– she had seen it before, not in her, but in someone else she couldn't quite recall. By the way Mina had spoken so worriedly about her and so leisurely, it was as if she also felt the shift in her personality. It was as if the girl had been tilted to a side, fallen down, and didn't know how to get up. The darkness of mystery that always surrounded her clear eyes had only gotten bigger, almost consuming her.

Something was plaguing her mind. Yaoyorozu wondered if this was also her when she had her days of reflexion, thinking, alone in her library with little people to actually trust while she broke down in a corner. She thought of the time, of how fast it was running – was it running out? would they someday not be able to see the sun anymore? – and how dimly it all seemed after the storm.

Uraraka had never left the storm.

It had probably just begun for her, as if a curtain of rain was surrounding her and not letting her dream or breathe, suffocating her pleas for help. Where had this girl been to harden her features and eyes so badly? What kind of storm was her mind going through that no one could see?

She was almost sure of where she had been and at the same time so unsure of what to think. "Drink the rest. Everyone wants to see you."

Uraraka blinked her eyes off from the water and drank it all in one go, but not forgetting to ask again. "Everyone? So soon?" because she knew it was morning and not everyone was a morning person. "I know this is a major issue but…"

Of course she was intimidated. It wasn't the same kind of intimidation like when she had faced against Pyrox for the first time and she had acted on instinct despite the fear she felt– no one noticed her trembling voice, the scarlet of fear in her eyes. She had at first felt tremendously intimidated by the brash leader, because she wasn't anyone special in this world other than for her powers, and her feet had staggered in her way to him at first. She hadn't felt this feeling in a long time, and she had no way to tackle it again.

How would she look at her guildmates knowing and admitting she had abandoned them for power and something else? A sick part of her argued they had only kidnapped her so she would own up to it. She made that feeling bite the dust as soon as it surfaced, but she didn't feel any less queasy.

It was literally making her stomach lurch uncomfortably in a fashion she had felt sometimes when Bakugou finally shone for his true and inner earnest self. Not like he was dishonest and not like she cared. Because she absolutely didn't. Not at all.

She actually kind of did and it was irksome in countless ways, but it'd take a bit of time before she came to this conclusion. For now she focused on what would be endless eyes looking at her as soon as she stepped out from that forsaken room and goodness forbid her for being so nervous about the whole ordeal. She didn't even know for how long she was going to stay and she didn't know what plans they had for her.

She was just a piece of floating information for them when she had been an anonymous face, why was she so important again after running away when she was, again, just memo? "There's no need to make a huge deal out of this…" Uraraka tried to pacify but failed at it spectacularly.

"We won't eat you. Most of us don't hold ill intentions against you."

"Most?"

"Well…" the black-haired girl's eyes turned dejected and her hand landed on her chest. "you know."

The sorcerer understood at a frightening speed that gave away how much she knew about these people, and looked down as it dawned on her. "Oh."

Of course Bakugou wanted to kill her. He had probably saved the glorious revenge for, in his eyes, _betraying_ them for when she got to them. She hadn't stopped that much to think of what had happened when they had found her almost dead body among the debris. Surely he had just scoffed at her and maybe ordered her to get up and face him– which didn't happen. If he had ordered something back then he must have had a bitter time swallowing her silence. Had he missed her? She wanted to believe he hadn't, but also wanted her selfish side to be quenched and think he _had_.

She was a traitor in his eyes, she knew. He had given her his scarce trust and she had used it to get to an enemy and leap away for more power– a power he hadn't been willing to give her, true, but because he allegedly didn't want her to be so brash, to feed a beast that could overpower him someday… did he really think holding her down so he'd be king would stop her from blooming?

Her fist clenched, teeth gritted in anguish and frustration. "Is _he_ here?"

The knight was quick to shake her head. "He's got some business to do out. But he knows you are here." of course he did, he had been the one to catch her in the first place, and he wasn't stupid. He would tie the dots after seeing her with Shinsou, something the others hadn't witnessed and surely not fed about. "I'd be quick and help before he comes back."

There she went with the sharp edge to her voice, making Uraraka straighten her back because it was true, she wasn't here for lullabies and games, she still had a mission to fulfill and they would help her now, she hoped. If she didn't use her time wisely while the beast was away, she'd get into trouble fast. Besides, she knew this day to face them would come, despite what the grim future held and her fixation to mend it.

There was no other way around this, was there? "You're right." feeling brave again, for a little, Uraraka hopped off the bed and immediately stumbled to Yaoyorozu. "My legs ain't working very well."

"You've been sleeping in a fixed position for too long, of course you can't walk well now." she flung the sorcerer's arm around her shoulder, and helped her walk. "I'll get you to Shuzenji for a quick fix later. You could use some food too." the girl pinched her cheek, affectionate once again, to which Uraraka whined. "You still seem as roundy as ever, though."

The girl finally let go, and Uraraka rubbed her cheek while trying to step on her own, failing at it. "I had enough of Kirishima and Bakugou calling me out on my cheeks, don't fall for it too please."

There was a chuckle from the knight. "By the way, don't get too worked up if everyone kind of swarms at you. Let's say that there are mixed feelings on this issue in general." she tried to play it off as a very light issue but still persisted on being mysterious about it. If she was going to act in any way maybe she could decide on a single attitude.

"Are they… mad at me?"

There was an awkward silence for what seemed like minutes but only were seconds, in which Yaoyorozu bit her lip in hesitation. Some people were excited to see what she looked like now, how she was, as if forgetting the fact that she had abandoned them no matter what the reasons were. Others were skeptic about her, deciding to judge from the distance and wanting to see what her intentions were.

Uraraka knew some wouldn't welcome her with open arms– hell, if someone had done this to her, she would have preferred to be guarded and not the fluffy happy mess she'd end up being. She had less emotional resistance than she let on, even more so now that she was dizzy, confused, fleshed out against her team after so long, feelings flourishing and god, she was overcome with the feeling of hugging some of them after so long.

It was as if repressing them had done the exact opposite effect in her, and they were threatening to burst at the seams if she didn't run away. Which she wasn't going to do. So for now, this nostalgia would have to swallow her whole.

"Some will hug you." Yaoyorozu said curtly. "Some might have their weapons at reach."

Uraraka could deal with a few daggers to her throat. She had had her leader's sword to her neck and chin more than once – had an alarming amount of accuracy when it came to pointing stuff at people, sometimes deadly, sometimes threateningly – she wasn't afraid of pointy things near her skin anymore. Not that it wasn't alarming how many times she had been almost dead.

In other ways than humans willing to end her life. Man, wasn't this being a ride. "I can deal with that."

Yaoyorozu tried to let her walk on her feet, but still kept an arm secured around her frame just in case anything happened. Uraraka could barely remember the path to the main hall of the residence, or wherever they were. She doubted they had had time to carry her far away from the Capital, so that was a start. Uraraka also came to a staggering conclusion as she let Yaoyorozu carry her through the corridor, doors closed.

 _"The energy… from before."_ she tried to level her feet and made them still for a moment, focusing her attention on her feet. _"I can't feel it. There's no darkness enshrouded in this place… what floor are we on? There's no speck of weird energy here."_ "Where are we, by the way?"

Should have asked before. She really should have asked before.

"Gunhead provided us with a residence in the outskirts of the city for some days until we move forward in the Jirou chase." explained the girl. "Since we are the winners of the national tournament and we are working on an issue of national interest, it's only fair we get somewhere to work in for some time."

That did sound fair in Uraraka's mind. "You guys did great, at least during the part I watched." mumbled Uraraka, but tried to be clear and convey how proud she was and amazed at the skill they had showed even if it wasn't based on team work. "No wonder you guys got to the final."

Again, the other girl pondered what to say next. It hadn't happened in a while that she had to be this precautious and think if the words she wanted to say were adequate or too trusting. It felt odd. It didn't feel natural to be so tense around someone you used to trust– yes, it wasn't blind trust, as Yaoyorozu and Bakugou had long discussed the risk of having her around and how they had to be careful. However the fear had somewhat faded and given into a beautiful blossoming friendship that was abruptly interrupted by fate.

She wanted it back. She wanted all that trust back.

It was hard to get it back and change the colors of fate into what it used to be. But Yaoyorozu wasn't a weak woman– everything but weak. She swallowed spit, took a step forward, and dragged her companion a bit further. "It shows you have been doing a lot while you were gone. You've gotten a lot better."

Uraraka's eyes snapped to her friend, startled. "Huh?"

"I'm not…" she staggered the littlest bit. "I don't know where you went exactly, what you did, and while I wanna know, I'm aware it's not my business. Regardless, it had done good on your combat skills– you seem to know what you are doing, now."

The sorcerer looked at the knight which, by the way, was adverting her gaze, and smiled a little. While she knew people would inevitably ask after seeing her in partnership with Shinsou – Bakugou's enemy, it seemed, but she knew she'd have to keep some things at bay to not let them into her secret life too much. Some dark secrets were better kept in secret… she wasn't proud of any of it.

It _was_ true that she had learned lots though. It had all happened so fast yet so _slow_ , finding confidence in her skills and exploding the roughest edges after being denied her development for so long. It had all been strained to the worst yet best limits. At least it had all been pushed to a stop while Uraraka found solace in this mission.

An unwanted yet pleasant solace, maybe risked by her guildmates now that Shinsou had left to mind his own business. "Let's say I've had a lot of practice."

Yeah, that would do the trick. "It sure looks like it. Midoriya wants to speak to you about it, actually." of course he would, he'd come mumbling about it if she knew the leader good enough. Which she prayed for. "I'd tell you all about it, but I'm sure he'll make whatever questions he wants better than me." Yaoyorozu let her go to see how much she could walk, feet tapping on the bland of the red velvet rug, and saw the girl start walking steadily. "Will you be able to…?"

Nod. "Yeah, sure. I was just a little numb, but I'll be fine." her hearing was a bit off too, but the general aftermath of her short coma was slowly fading. It was hard to get used to such massive sleeping spree. "I could use something to eat though."

"You slept for so long, you must have been travelling a lot, have you?" they slowly walked a bit faster, but Uraraka wasn't excited for this exchange at all. She gulped when a big ominous and very telling brown door came into view. "You fell asleep right after seeing the bed. How are you even still alive?"

Uraraka could tell Yaoyorozu was all cautious she wanted, serious and collected, but some excitement was seeping into her voice and she couldn't help but smile at her genuine enthusiasm. "I've been everywhere lately. I needed that rest though. I was running out of stamina."

"Well, it didn't look like it at all." the girl frowned, somewhat feeling intimidated at how powerful this small woman was now. There was this nagging impulse to wait for Bakugou and tell him about this development, but knowing his unadmitted interest on Uraraka, whatever everyone knew was already a long old story for him. She let it go this time. "Regardless, here we are."

Indeed, there they were, in front of the big door and she could make out low chatter from the other end. There weren't many people in there at the other side, which put her at ease, but the feeling of dread was still settled as she didn't know what she'd be confronted with. For some she was a traitor; for others, she was an old friend. For some she had screwed up, others were happy for her overall.

She didn't even know what to feel anymore, and just encouraged the meeting with a hand to the wooden surface, making an attempt to push it open. "Let's do this, then."

The door was suddenly pushed open and while Uraraka was certain she had prepared herself for it she was also suddenly aware that no preparements for this event would have put her on guard for the faces that greeted her as she entered the lobby, finding Midoriya, Asui, Kaminari, Jack and god, it looked like the people she was closest to was purposefully there to make her feel the guiltiest being in the planet. They all looked at her as if a crossing star had shooted the sky and her eyes were sprinkled with little spots of water.

She wasn't going to cry because she had missed them, deep down, the warmth of a family and the way Midoriya's face shifted into a warm welcoming smile, or how Jack's eyes turned somewhat hopeful, a rare trait in her. They were all looking at her as if she was the universe while she stared back in absolute loss, torn between running away and embracing these feelings that were coming back.

"Guys…?"

Midoriya got up from the red comfy armchair he was sitting on and offered her a hand. "It's good to have you back, Uraraka." the girl shuddered as he beckoned her to come closer. "We are so glad to see you alive and well."

Uraraka was shell-shocked. Startled. Frozen. She couldn't move a single inch from the ground, seeing the world spin then stop, as if struggling to go on after the sunshine in the horizon had sunk to the depths of hell, but she had been somehow brought back to heaven and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to take this piece of light back. "I'm…"

Yaoyorozu have her a good push so Uraraka would stagger to her friends' side, taking a place behind Asui's sofa. Midoriya held his hand eagerly to her above the backrest, and Uraraka was urged to pull him to a hug. Her hands trembled to take his and when she eventually did shake his hand, she felt him pulling her slightly to his side. Feeling he was eager to have her closer, she stepped around the sofa while everyone got up from their seats, and Uraraka almost threw herself to Midoriya after so _so_ long.

This definitely felt much more right than whatever business she had done before. There was no way she didn't deserve this after so long.

"Uraraka…" the boy's arms were easy around her middle back, while Uraraka's curled around the boy's slightly thicker neck. He was taller than she remembered, his hair trimmed inches and his eyes were alarmingly tired. She wondered if this Jirou mafia issue was taking too much of a toll on him. She could take a few days without sleep, but could he? "So glad to see you are okay."

His words were muffled into the hair curled on her neck but they held an astronomical amount of truth to them even if they were muffled messy and emotional– it was raw, it was true, and Uraraka wouldn't have Midoriya any other way. "I'm so glad to see you again." which was a bit of a lie. She wasn't overly glad, mostly afraid for now of what was going to happen to her, knowing she was mostly weak and powerless. She'd be happy later.

Asui got up as well, and tapped the girl's shoulder when Uraraka had finally let Midoriya go. The alchemist didn't go for a hug though, just offered her usual blank stare that didn't really convey harsh feelings, just an empty sensation of pleasure. "Good to see you. You gave us a horrible scare back there."

Of course Asui would be as straightforward as always, and Uraraka couldn't help but gulp at that remark. The creeping feeling of guilt that was coiling in her belly a few moments ago came back, clenched, curled, and contorted Uraraka's expression into one of mortification. Did she mean to actually make her feel guilty? Was she maybe preparing her for a long talk on treason and forgiveness?

The sorcerer couldn't tell. However, when the brunette looked to her side, Jack's eyes looked kind enough to look at them for a minute and feel calmer. No one had shared looks or made any remark about Asui's sudden commentary, no one seemed to take it into consideration and Uraraka didn't know if it was out of habit after hearing it for too long or just plain ignorance. Maybe she was overthinking it too much.

"We're sorry we had to use such ways to get to you. Shinsou kind of gave you away." said the leader almost apologetically, but anyone could tell whatever pain she had gone through had been worth it for them so they'd see her again, even if Shinsou hadn't really told them it was Uraraka under the disguise. Everyone had the suspicion yet… how do you even theorize your dead mate could be alive and working for a potential enemy?

It had been too convoluted for anyone's liking. Even Uraraka's, at this point. "I can't understand why he'd do that…" everyone wanted to ask that but maybe it was too early to understand what their bond was even built on. That was one of the issues they'd get to discuss today. "But… it was kind of good in the end. I'd have liked it better if it happened in basically _any_ other way, though."

She wouldn't have probably gone willingly to this meeting due to fears and doubts regarding where she stood with them, but it's not like she was going to tell them that.

Jack, however, chuckled and, "Would you have dropped around though?"

Well, fuck. "I would've probably taken longer, that's for sure." nervously laughed the girl, her hands unconsciously combing through the back of her hair. "I have been everywhere lately."

"We can tell. You've gotten way stronger since we last saw you fight." spoke Asui, and Jack nodded appreciatively. Everyone seemed to be agreeing on her being stronger, which should elate her, but why didn't it feel that rewarding to be stronger as it did to be back? It felt much more right to be back than to be stronger, above all with the ways she got down to the chase.

And she had so many ties to untangle. Why was life so complicated? It was as if she was living in a dream full mishaps and mistakes, in a deep slumber from which she couldn't wake up as much as she reached for the stars above her head, like a ceiling without a window. She felt like she was suffocating, dying slowly, her brain tricking her to believe there was no countdown to an apocalypse, no danger, just bliss and tranquility in front of her.

Everyone had a demon inside. Maybe hers would end up ruling the world in ashes and fire.

"I have grown a bit more into my role." spoke Uraraka lightly, as if this role wasn't important. Or as if she hadn't destroyed a whole beast with her sole tiny body. "I intend to grow even stronger than what you have witnessed. That is, if I won't be stopped again."

She meant this as a joke but as soon as the words escaped her throat she realized it was a pretty misplaced and badly timed thing to say. Her hands clasped on her mouth in realization and her eyes rounded on her peers who, if offended, didn't dare say it outloud. Nobody seemed to realize Jack had silently stalked away, and only Uraraka realized this when Kaminari followed after her.

"I didn't mean to–"

"We know what you mean." spoke Asui, unfaced. Midoriya and her shared a kind look. "And we... let's just sit down and talk about it. Where did Jack and Kaminari go?"

Midoriya looked at the parted door with a startled gasp, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish expression of worry. "They must have stuff to do. Jack's been awfully busy lately, so it'll have to be the four of us. Take a seat, please." Uraraka sat down on the red sofa behind her, and Yaoyorozu didn't take long to sit as well, right by her side.

The silence around them felt distinguishably empty. "Where have the others gone?"

The knight by her answered her. "Some are in a mission with Bakugou, they should come back later today or tomorrow. We have sent some others to a recognition mission with the stealth team to Orange Forest. They should join the others when they are on their way home if there's nothing new."

Orange Forest… she had heard that name before, hadn't she? In fact, she could loosely recall having seen it in a library somewhere before. "Orange Forest… rings a bell for some reason."

"Yeah, we've been digging for some stuff around there for a while." said Asui, and offered her a cup of tea that Uraraka hadn't even noticed lying there. She wanted to believe it hadn't popped up suddenly like… other stuff had– she rejected the tea. "We believe some Jirou refugees are there storing the items they steal, but that's just a random scoop we got from one burglar."

"You've been doing your homework then, too."

"We've been investigating this for some time, but it was now when Gunhead called us to work on it that we took this as a serious deal." followed Midoriya, his chin on his entwined fingers, mumbling as if talking to himself. "Also when they tried to raid you all when you were headed to one of our main stops before the Capital. They are following our steps too, we know they are lurking… somewhere."

One of the flames on a candle flickered, then blew off to nothing but smoke. A shiver ran down Uraraka's spine. "Gunhead told us about the issue with not much depth. It was more us sharing information than him providing with that much help."

"So you _do_ know something."

The brunette arched an eyebrow. "I don't know much more than you guys know, but I might know different information than what you have discovered. I have been fed information, whereas you guys have looked for it yourselves."

The leader looked at her with a small frown. "I'm curious about who gave you the information and _how_ , can't lie." that got Uraraka growing tense. "But I can't really mind that right now. Bakugou can ask all that when he comes back, I am not as worried for what you've been doing as much as I am for the issue at hand."

That made sense, but she got this feeling that it had been Bakugou who actually imposed himself to be the one to kill her for being a traitor. There didn't seem to be any kind of betrayal in her peers' eyes, why was Bakugou possibly feeling that, then? She couldn't help but feel that everyone was pushing the matter under the rug, discussing the weather but still looking at the little bump with needy eyes.

"Right." nodded the girl, letting the little fear sink for later and focus on the pertinent problem. "I guess you should ask the questions. I am sure we share the same grounding as to what they do and such."

Asui took the lead. "We've been following some of their people. If they wanted to be cautious, they've been suspiciously outspoken when it comes to stealing stuff from merchants. It's as if they knew everyone knows they exist and just didn't care about it anymore."

"We've gotten several burglar reports from some places. I can get a map or something if you all want me to." Yaoyorozu looked at Uraraka specifically, who nodded eagerly as she knew these things had happened, but she had only been given vague clues as to where from Gunhead.

As Yaoyorozu stalked off to get the document, Uraraka thought that perhaps Gunhead had been vague on purpose. He had been awfully skittish and ambigue in certain points, and whatever she was about to discover from this trustful and earnest source made her giddy with excitement, but also slightly peeved that she had had to get this deep to find answers.

As she thought about all of this, Kaminari came back, and Midoriya spoke. "The stealth team is pretty fast when it comes to this. Few guilds have subteams of this kind, and it comes in handy when we have official jobs to carry out and they are of great importance." hence why Shinsou had mentioned some times that Yuuei was just _the Council's spoiled brat by now_. So damn mean. "We've been trying to figure anything out, but we don't have a clue on where their headquarters could be since it's impossible to see them coming or follow their steps home."

"They kind of come and go, like the wind." pointed Asui out. "We only pinpoint where the attack has been, and jot it down."

The door closed behind them and Yaoyorozu appeared with a big map on hand. The alchemist took the tea tray and stalked off to place it somewhere else as Kaminari sat down near Uraraka, offering her a kind smile. There wasn't much commotion about her arrival – something she was thankful for, she didn't want to be a big deal – just a simple acknowledgement that she was there, and that all was alright for now.

"They usually occur at night or dawn, near merchant trades and usual trading routes." the black-haired girl took the map and extended it on the wide table. As Uraraka had expected, the map didn't cover much more than the actual Capital, and maybe some other places in villages nearby. Wherever the Jirou clan was, they didn't go too far from home.

Uraraka leaned forward a little to place herself. Most of the attacks occurred near the Capital or inside of it– but it was as if all attacks gravitated to the edges of the Capital's barriers, as if trying to avoid it excepting the few times they had landed inside the barriers. The gates were flooded with dots and crosses where they had managed to steal and run, yet the points where they had attacked inside the Capital were scarce and considerably scattered.

"They don't seem to attack inside the actual town as much." concluded Uraraka, but she knew everyone knew this, so she decided to say something to add on. "It ain't like security is that good, though."

Kaminari lunged his arm on the backrest of the sofa. "What do you mean?"

"Shinsou and I got into the tournament with extreme ease… Gunhead hadn't really told anyone from security that we were getting in and had permission to enter the tournament out of date, so we were treated as enemies after all– and it was piece of cake to get in. The security force didn't put much of a fight." explained she, remembering how easy it had been to take out all the guards at the entrance. "The Jirous aren't weak. If they had wanted to get into the Capital, they would have. There must be a reason as to why they haven't really gotten in."

"That's interesting." interjected Midoriya, getting up to look at the map. He probably thought that looking at it from a higher view would give them all answers. "To begin with, why didn't Gunhead tell his guards about you?"

That was a curious question that Uraraka had no answers for, only theories. "Maybe he simply forgot to, or just wanted to keep the operation secret and didn't tell anyone about us going there undercover. I am not that worried now." she discarded the topic for another moment. "Again, why wouldn't they get in? The Capital seems more profitable than the actual outskirts."

"Perhaps because it's more inconvenient?" asked Kaminari. "Like, going to such a crowded place may be risky for their organization. I wouldn't go there if I was the one in the game."

"That's highly unlikely." responded Yaoyorozu, mimicking Midoriya and looking down at the map from a higher point of view, scrutinizing the points with a narrowed stare. "They are already aware that people know of their existence. They attack at random times during the day, and risk anybody seeing them like we have. If being anonymous was what mattered to them, they'd actually seek for better hours."

She was completely right on that, it didn't look like they were too shameful about what they did. And Midnight hadn't been that subtle about her identity. There had to be a reason as to why they didn't attack the Capital. "Why are they staying so close to it, though? It's as if they were patrolling the area."

The dots were enmeshed together and tangled. Asui's statement could very well be true… but why patrol it? During the numerous times Uraraka had been there, she hadn't seen any kind of guarding route making sure there wasn't any kind of suspicious activity. It had always been calm and pacific unless her and Shinsou stepped in. This theory about the dark clan patrolling it all was something that the government would already know about.

Unless…

"When Shinsou and I went around the wall, there wasn't any special security measure going on that gave away this kind of attacking pattern from such a danger like the Jirous. If this was a thing, the Council would know about this and the area of around the walls would be stronger– which was a thing we didn't see. Security was just regular." started Uraraka, gulping, and starting to stand to see the dots join together. "And it's not like the guards around the city are in any case weaker… I have patrolled around there and encountered countless soldiers."

"It's as if…" followed Yaoyorozu. "it's as if they didn't know of this map, or their patterns, or just didn't know anything about all of this–"

Uraraka was quick to interrupt her. "Or maybe they actually did."

Everyone went quiet at this, unable to react because suddenly Uraraka had said something that didn't make sense at all– if there was no guarding around the barriers where the highest rate of crime was, yet there was a higher or equal amount of guards inside the town where there was less or no crime… what did that mean? How could they know about this if the security pattern was so inconsistent?

"We already know this government's administration is… lacking, at best." stated Midoriya plainly, as if tremorous, but everyone knew it was the truth. "It wouldn't surprise me–"

"That's not what I mean." said the sorcerer, and suddenly, she wasn't looking at the map anymore. Everyone looked at her in dire curiosity. "The clan… hasn't attacked very far away from the town, either." while saying this, Uraraka got a sinking, dreadful and terrifying feeling. "And they aren't usually seen appearing into attack. It's been reported it's impossible to see them coming."

"That's what we got." followed Kaminari, tilting his head. "What's the point?"

"Maybe they aren't attacking the outskirts out of convenience." she leaned down, a hand slanted on the table, following the dots in her head as she followed the endless ones on the map. "Maybe… they are doing out of time."

"Time?" asked Midoriya.

"I had an encounter with a mafia member a few days ago." explained Uraraka, her eyes zeroed on the map, frowning. "He said the gang's lair was placed near the Capital… but he never specified where."

"We had reached that conclusion ourselves." said Yaoyorozu, following her own track of dots. "It's impossible for them to attack and disappear so easily… then that must be because their lair allows them to fade out of sight, and must be located somewhere around the town."

There was a blanket of silence in which everyone tried to reach a conclusion, one that was absolutely horrifying to think about and only Yaoyorozu, Midoriya and Uraraka started to thread and knit. The only one who dared speak was the brunette. "The location… it's not around the town."

"What do you mean?" asked Asui, looking at Uraraka with a finger to her cheek, brow creased in worry.

"Their headquarters… they aren't _around_ the town."

Everyone looked down at their feet. Uraraka felt a shiver run down her spine, dread and mortification, chill and thunder sinking into her being as silence blanketed the room, everyone feeling that very same dark energy tickling their toes from underground.

"Their headquarters are _in_ the town." whispered she, trembling, her hands twitching as that dreary feeling of darkness and sorrow expanded under her feet, under everyone's feet– under the whole Capital's feet. "Their headquarters…"

The faces of everyone in the Council spun, turned dark, evil, everything was covered in mist, darkness, smirks, blades, corruption, and at the top of everything… stood Gunhead, looking out the window with the door to the basement of the town open.

"Their headquarters are…"

A guard at the wall of the town took a gem out of his pocket and made it shine to the sun, smirking, blood marrying his hands, then returning to his position in the guard line as if nothing had happened, everyone snickering as a small body rotted near the wall, all their goods stolen. The smell of death and metallic despair would never taunt their dreams, collected the deed and done the reaping. Incorruptible soldiers of death consumed by darkness and greed.

When Gunhead had fed them information, he had never lied. He had never been dishonest, he had never talked like a force of evil… yet he had behaved nervous, skittish, if somewhat unsure of what to do– and it dawned on her, Gunhead had never actually expected her to discover this, therefore acted like a leader, and told her all information he knew. He had always acted like the president she expected him to be. All he had been doing was act like the honest view she had of him.

In the end, the general had been acting like an spectator all along when, in reality, he had been another puppet on top of the discordia chaos under their feel. He acted just exactly as she had expected. And, in return, everything had been destined to act as he had expected as well.

But that was over now.

Yaoyorozu's eyes widened, the corruption spreading like a blanket through the circular town, and suddenly, all pieces fell together into a sole conclusion.

"Their headquarters are… _the whole town_." everyone shuddered, trembled. "And what we feel underground is…"

Uraraka gulped, and looked at her feet again. She could finally understand everything– everything she had been told, everything she had felt– "It's… their golem factory. That where they are breeding the gems to create the monsters. It's..." shudder. "it's the havoc upbringer."

There was a thick duvet of silence permeating the room until Yaoyorozu found her voice to speak, digesting the revelation. "The colossus that appeared during the tournament."

Uraraka interpreted it as a question and responded to it right away. "The Jirous have been working on a breed of artificial monsters. It's probably why they have been getting so many gems– they encase energy. It's something that Gunhead very briefly told us about." and for a reason, realized she now. "This weird feeling from underground… it's probably the high concentration of power fighting against the souls of the dead people they use as vessels."

The way Uraraka didn't even quiver to mention the vesseled people made them all see she had been through some rough stuff during the time she had been gone. "The guards inside the town… are making sure the townspeople don't rebel against them. And the guards at the wall… are the ones abducting the merchaders, aren't they?"

Uraraka nodded mourningly. "I'm afraid so." and it was bone-chilling and terrifying, but she didn't let it show. "They are using everything to feed the Jirou clan… whether the Council is a separate entity from the clan or is simply just a corporation of the clan, everything still works under the clan's hand. That's why a colossus camouflaged as somebody so plain in first sight got into the final rounds of the tournament… they wanted to shake our grounds and warn the people."

Kaminari was actually alarmed by this and jumped from his seat. "That's too convoluted, to make the Council be in it all of a sudden–"

"It makes sense, ribbit."

The blonde looked at Asui as if he had been betrayed. "The hell? Why are you siding with this nonsense?"

"I remember how ambigue and looming Gunhead appeared to be at our meeting with him before facing RampAge. He seemed pretty reluctant to do _anything_ that benefitted us, and only gave us enough leeway to do stuff just to keep his appearance as long as we didn't mesh with the Jirous' benefit."

"Do you guys think the Jirous had any interest in RampAge?" asked Uraraka, hands still splayed on the map as she tried to shake away the vibrance of the power under her feet. It came and went, and it just made her remember when she had stopped and stared at the ground when she first felt it.

Midoriya, observant as ever, quickly remembered a small detail. "The mountain RampAge lived in was full of minerals on the walls. I wouldn't be surprised if it was gem-rich considering how RampAge's body was an ice-element powerhouse, seeing a bit of the steam he seemed to issue and the quantity of ice around it–"

Asui slapped his neck with her tongue and didn't even offer an apology. If she did though, Yaoyorozu was lost in that minor detail to hear it. "Hold on, ice-gems! Those could hold forbidden power."

"They _are_ forbidden unless they are for self-defense, just like our weapons are." the leader tapped the sword on his hip, the little jewel shining to the light. Uraraka wondered now if it was any issue that her staff had been lost in the river when they were stranded. "And the colossus at the tournament… it didn't feel warm at all. It wouldn't be senseless to say that one was made out of ice."

"Forbidden power…" this one question had been one that absolutely no one actually answered. When she had, long time ago with Jack in front of the shrine, she had been awfully ambigue about it being forbidden, jinxed, damned, everything about it being haunted. "Why is this power so… forbidden? I never understood why."

Definitely not because she had used it once and she had been almost killed by Yaoyorozu afterwards. Not at all.

There was no big problem on them telling her, so Yaoyorozu started the tale. "It's mostly all religion lost in the warps of time. It's said that a long time ago, a monster made of ice destroyed the world and stopped time with its powers, but was then forgiven by the gods and melted into the oceans we know today, It's all very ambigue and foggy." the girl wanted to laugh it off but something in Yaoyorozu's eyes told everyone she was still pretty impressed and maybe even intimidated by the story.

Midoriya continued the tale. "Others are just afraid of what it symbolizes. It's rumored that the monster is coming back and devouring all timelines; other believe the timelines are already solved as RampAge is dead; others just believe it symbolizes the end of the world as it's the only element that can make the whole world go still in a second." his arms crossed, frowning, so uncharacteristic of him when Uraraka knew he wasn't focused, but actually worried.

He went still. "There's more, isn't there?"

Sigh from the green-haired knight. "Us guild members are more versed in these things. While we do contemplate the religious point of view, we are also fearful of the god-like capacity of ice power and therefore despise it– it can do too much damage in too little time, it's like a blessing... from the gods, or from the devil, if such exist." explained the man. "Those who practice it are like preachers to destruction and chaos."

It was now understandable why Yaoyorozu and Jack had come across as stern and fearful respectively for that element, and her hands twitched because she knew she could handle this power– did it make her sinful? Jinxed? Damned? Probably everyone knew she could handle it…

Bakugou's words of not wanting to form her into a destruction beast seemed more logical now. "Does it have anything to do with RampAge?"

"It does from a certain standpoint, considering this religion I told you about considers RampAge to be the son of this… beast that froze the planet." Yaoyorozu smiled, making Uraraka feel relieved that she wasn't being judged now that the issue was brought up. "But that doesn't matter now. RampAge is dead, but the Jirou clan isn't."

Yet Uraraka had something else to say. "Wait, but then how does Todoroki manage to be even in a guild if he can use this power?"

"That's not your business."

The door was slammed shut and behind her appeared Todoroki with a expression of not anger, not sadness, just pure indifference at the matter– but it had been so aggressive, his words, that is felt like he was forcing himself to be passive about it all, making Uraraka shut up and understand that was a story for another day. "My apologies. I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine." and that was it. The knight walked to his leader and gave him a roll of paper. "Father gave me this for you and Bakugou. He said it had important stuff in it– don't ask me."

Midoriya looked at the papyrus with an arched eyebrow before removing the loop around it, and then reading it briefly. Uraraka was still threading the Jirou issue to notice he had called the king _father_. "I'll tell Bakugou about this, it'll be good news for him I bet." the green-haired leader patted Todoroki on his shoulder with a proud smile. "Thanks for this. I am so thankful for this, Todoroki."

The way Midoriya held this and how Todoroki was beaming at the praise had Uraraka feeling remorse for being out of the loop. She suddenly felt awkwardly left out of the issue and she wanted to groan in annoyance. For now, she could only hope it wasn't about her and Shinsou… it'd be terribly tense for them to be investigating them while Uraraka was teaming up with them. Suddenly, the sorcerer felt aware of their eyes on her and she couldn't help but feel watched.

This would be harder than she had expected it to be.

"What is it you got there, Midoriya?" asked Asui.

The boy smiled, not beaming, but smiled in acknowledgement of her interest. "King Enji gave us this report from the stealth team. He's been pretty interested in our activities lately, maybe a bit more than the Council, even."

In a way, it made sense considering the Council was just a corrupt vessel from a dark clan, so of course any other entity from any government would look more interested and more _real_ in their intentions. However, "Wait, King Enji from our lands? Why go back there now?"

"He was making a visit after the tournament, just an act of presence, and we decided it'd be good to see if the higher powers from our village had actually picked something up from our team, or if something had happened in the village." spoke Todoroki. Uraraka didn't pick up the resentment in his voice, but it was there. "He just gave me this thing and tried to derive the conversation into personal stuff."

Uraraka had never met the king, she didn't even remember meeting him once, but he seemed like a pretty strict man. "It must be pretty important stuff he gave you then, he's the king himself."

Midoriya knew best and decided not to dwell on the matter and looked between the naïve girl and the cold man. "Regardless of who the king is, he gave us what we asked for, so that's it about him." but everyone could see that the way Uraraka looked into the void in deep thought that this wouldn't be the last time this would be brought up. "We should be able to at least narrow our search ratio a little with what information they gave us. We'll know where to lead them. I don't think such a powerful clan would only have their headquarters down there."

The black-haired knight nodded in agreement. "If this information we just concluded is true, we must examine whatever that lies underground and search for their second headquarters. This town might be their base of operations, but we know they come from somewhere else and have a home somewhere in the forests.

Asui looked at the map and nodded with an empty expression. "Our stealth team can't be wrong, there _have_ been reports on fishy activity there and we'll find them."

Yaoyorozu diligently took this information down and looked at the map with a somber expression of worry. The fact that such a big organization was actually acting deceivingly under the appearance of a professional corporation was absolutely maddening, mostly because she knew they had the public's favor after many years of well-doings– but would anyone but them ever see that whatever good they did to the town also benefited the clan? After all, they wanted to keep their house and town clean… and whatever that lay underground.

"Do you guys really think that… they are actually creating an army?" it wasn't Yaoyorozu who spoke, but Kaminari. "I also saw the big colossus guy in the tournament… but it's just too much to digest right off the bat."

Again, Uraraka knew she had something to say about this. "I actually took the defeated vessel of the colossus with me after the tournament, it's… unnatural." maybe she should have explained this before actually diving into this subject. "I examined the body. The body they used was probably too thin and weak to contain the power of the gem it had inside. I don't know if the gem consuming the body is what triggers the transformation we witnessed at the tournament, though– but the vessel's body was basically done for after it happened."

Asui, interested in this as the alchemist she was, asked for more information. "What happened to the body? Was it torn apart?"

"Not exactly– though it was in some places, probably due to general strain after the transformation. The gem seemed to multiply the volume of the vessel's muscles and… just made it into an ugly thing. Gem power isn't that natural when it's used for such artificial purposes." rambled Uraraka, her finger tapping the chin, a part of her feeling proud that she could finally be of use in things she hadn't been able to before.

Midoriya knew zero shit about biology, but still looked interested. "What did you do to the body? Did you bury it?"

"No. I was ordered by the Council to give it back in case there was any development in its health state. I had planned on trying to go and check on it the day you guys got me." the girl let out a frustrated sigh, jaw clenched. "No wonder they wanted it. I sure hope they don't recycle it for another colossus."

She should have probably kept it inside of her just as an afterthought but she wasn't that good at keeping her mouth shut. Some things would never change.

"Well," Midoriya tucked the papyrus under his arm and beckoned Todoroki and Asui to go with him. "I'm gonna go check these out with them. You should get some new gear from Hatsume before we start planning things tomorrow, it's gonna get noisy from then on."

Yaoyorozu and Kaminari looked at Uraraka, who nodded, and the former nudged her on the shoulder. "C'mon, I'll walk you there. Hatsume is going to be euphoric at the thought of making a whole armor."

"Hold on– a whole armor!?"

But Kaminari and Yaoyorozu were already taking her out of the room when the rest waved at them goodbye. Todoroki spoke last. "Try to keep her safe, that woman's a monster!"

Yaoyorozu's voice echoed from out of the room, heard within Uraraka and Kaminari's busy loud chattering. "Will do!"

* * *

What a great but tiring day. Uraraka could barely distinguish the times at which she had been awake and the times she had actually been lucid and listening.

It had all been a blur of colors and voices, and could only recall various important things that peppered her mind with worry that she absolutely didn't need considering the task she had to carry out in her main mission and other things plaguing her mind.

Walking down the corridor to her room, she knew she wouldn't be sleeping. Her hand cradled her forehead as her body started registering all the weights her shoulders were carrying, how it was making her eyelids droopy and the wish of sleep so sweet. She had been sleeping for a long time but it felt like being awake to witness these horrifying truths truly didn't make life worth living.

A small sigh escaped her chapped lips, and she adjusted her new cloak around her shoulders. Hatsume had truly taken her time to craft a staff for her, one that she gave a tracking gem to so, quoting her, _"Will make this baby pop out from space whenever you need it, so you won't have to carry it around! It'll work like a summon, you just gotta keep it somewhere safe!"_ which was pretty nifty, she'd say.

Uraraka shifted her hand around a little with it. It was rather light, but powerful to a knowledged hand like hers. She was more used to hand-wielded magic, so it'd probably take her a little time to get back in track with this new toy. As for her uniform, it was still as pink as ever, yet the black cloak hung from her frame in case, quoting her again, _"you get cold in whatever crazy travels you go to! I wish I had been there to see more mines and blacksmiths, they'd be so impressed with–!"_

The rest was just stupid blabbery. But it was still a useful fix. Besides, her uniform had been sown together and made larger so it reached her ankles, the skirt split at the front to show her dark tight pants, and it had been tightened around her torso with some ribbons. It looked maturer. It was as if she was some kind of high priestess from an ancient kingdom.

If only she could go for that holy title, but her hands were too dirty for that. She could only dream of going around kingdoms to heal the wounded and feed the hungry. For now, having a nice outfit and new weapon would suffice.

With stinging eyes and heavy steps, Uraraka went back into the beginning of the day when all was peaceful and through the steps that had made it a nightmare. The government of the very same land she was in was working for the most dangerous illegal dark clan, one she'd have to face eventually and flee to potentially team up with Shinsou again and find a solution for the timeline mishap. Meanwhile, catastrophic actions were going on under her feet and she couldn't do absolutely anything but roll in her bed and try to forget that hell lived just a few feet below.

Not to mention that she was now under the watch of the enemies of her master, one she had begrudgingly joined forces with under the knowledge that he had created the very same monster that supposedly caused the timeline chaos – that was still an opened case – to get stronger, succeeded at it and fled from him without knowing what he'd do about it.

The reasonable thing to believe was that he'd be hunting her down to bring her home so she wouldn't share any valuable information, but his right hand Shinsou didn't seem worried about the matter, and had reassured her a few times. A part of her was terrified of thinking what that man was doing while she was gone, because even when she hadn't seen anything traumatizing in her time there, it was true that the way he spoke was if anything worse than Shinsou's speeches.

The silence was killing her more than the storm that she was expecting. The fact that he wasn't doing anything about her being gone and how Shinsou spoke as if everything was _going according to plan following my old man's words_ made her shudder in new ways, feeling a looming danger dangle above her head, as if it was waiting and waiting to crash in her with something devastating and unknown. This ignorance was anything but blissful.

And she sincerely didn't know if she would survive seeing all these pieces to fix. There was no way she would be able to sort this out on her own. There was a long way ahead of her.

Uraraka heard the closing of a door in another room but didn't make much of it. Mina and Kirishima had probably gotten back from their mission– in fact, she could barely make out them talking to somebody else, probably Asui. She couldn't care, she just needed a moment to digest everything and be alone, on her own.

As she put her hand on the door to her room, she failed to register steps coming in her direction, unmistakable to her trained ear yet now faded due to her mental exhaustion. The world was spinning, the chaos was burning, and all she wanted was to rest and think about it with a rested mind, unaware of the presence behind her until–

A blade struck into the wooden door an inch away from her temple, making a horrifying noise as it pierced through the wood and successfully snapped the sorcerer out of her thoughts and realizing the recognizable laboured breathing, gruff panting, the dry smell of smoke and before she could say anything, the hand on the handle of the weapon was shaking, almost snapping the weapon in half.

"I fucking knew it!" exclaimed Bakugou behind her, looking down with a deep frown, contorted in anger and frustration. "I fucking knew it was you! No one believed me and told me I was spitting bullshit and now look who's back!"

He didn't sound relieved, he didn't sound by far how the others had, knowing her state of confusion and tiredness. Maybe when Yaoyorozu had referred to people having weapons behind their backs she actually meant Bakugou almost stabbing her brains out from behind. She could only stutter his name, still, frozen, unsure of what to do to appease him.

But of course, he wouldn't let her speak.

"How the fuck dare you do all the shit you did, dumbass!?" screamed he with his typical gravelly voice. His vocal chords could snap with all the anger he contained, for when he was told she was actually there, he had been decided on murdering her. "You thinkin' you're the goddess of this nation pulling the shit you did!? How fucking entitled are you to go behind our backs into whatever business you did and making us believe you were _dead_?"

Uraraka didn't turn yet. Her hands were clenched into fists as the truth she had been dodging hit her in the face. He always made her confront her fears, for better and for worse. This time wasn't any different, and it made her feel so nauseatingly bad. Her teeth were gritted, the silence covered their conversation. The grip on his weapon faltered, he let out a pant, and spoke again.

"I fucking thought you were dead, bitch." mumbled he. He… didn't look angry anymore. If anything, he sounded tired and that made Uraraka finally turn around to face him, cornered against the door. "I fucking mourned for a traitor. I let myself be fucking beaten up because they blamed me, roundface, they fucking blamed me."

If they meant the guild, then a part of her believed him. Another part of her was plenty disappointed they'd blame a mourning leader for the passing of somebody else. She was overcome with the need to reach out and hug him, knowing he probably wouldn't hurt her now– but her hands trembled, lacking the courage[3] to take it a step further. "Bakugou…"

His free hand rubbed his face, and if she didn't know him better – she really hoped she did – she'd say he was close to tears. He was trembling as well, as if too moved by her presence to actually articulate what he was feeling. "You fooled me. You tricked me. You ran away after all that shit… I wanna fucking kill you, y'know."

Uraraka held her breath, and her shoulders were suddenly up again until she was unconsciously covering her neck. She wanted to speak. She wanted to hug him like that time when they had been stranded and he had saved her life. She felt unforgivable as if she had killed a part of him, that small part she foolishly believed she had harvested in him. With time, she had been proven he didn't give a crap about her. Still, her dainty hands had held out for that hope.

This was the worst time to see that hope flourishing. He spoke again, ragged and so, so heavy. "I fucking wanna want to kill you. I wanna feel that shit again, I wanna fucking hate you for what you did because it's the shittiest thing you could fucking do…" he was closing in, protecting his heart again and, in the process, breaking hers. "I wanna feel like you betrayed us."

Which she did, deep down, and everyone knew it. Why was he… so ambivalent about it, then? "I'm… sorry." her voice didn't break, but her heart did. "I just… felt it was the best for everyone."

"How the hell is it best for you to fucking make everyone feel like they had lost a peer!?" his voice rose again. "Fuck! How did you even make it here with a straight face knowing what everyone probably went through!? You ain't stupid, you sure damn knew what happened!"

"Do you think I don't know!?" screamed she back, poking his naked chest with her finger as she tiptoed to face him, an improper frown on her features. "I am not here by will! Trust me that I ain't the fucking goddess you all deem me to be: I make mistakes, I am still resentful for them and I am not even ready to be here!"

He smirked in a truthfully mean way. How he was still clutching the blade was alarming in many ways. "Oh, little miss fucking sunshine can't fucking get her shit together and face us now? I fucking wonder why!"

"Again, I just wanted to stop feeling like a damn mouse under your watch! You aren't being watched or limited or just _judged_ by how you fight!" counteracted she. Frustration brimmed at her eyes. "Do you even know what it feels like to be frustrated with yourself and not know what to do? I was offered a better opportunity!"

"Are you saying we fucking treated you badly now!?"

Uraraka jabbed his chest again with an accusing glare. " _You_ are the one who tried to shelter me because you were _scared_ of my fucking power!" he gritted his teeth at this because he instantly wanted to deny that, but words were stuck in his throat. "If you hadn't tried to stop me and given me the answers I wanted, I wouldn't have looked for them out of here!"

"The fuck!?" he finally took his weapon out of the door's wood after wiggling it a little. "How can you even say the most powerful hunter of this village and potentially _nation_ is scared of someone like you!?"

Uraraka squared her glare and leveled it on him. "I still defeated you at the tournament, didn't I?"

That completely made him shut up.

Uraraka crossed her arms and looked at him daringly, his teeth gritting at her sudden bravado. "I don't care how much you wanna deny my progress, I have demonstrated I can look for it on my own." in a fashion similar to his, she whipped her cloak to a side. A part of her brain was telling her this wasn't her– and she was enjoying it so badly. Exploiting this new, more evident side of her against him was all sorts of enjoyable.

She didn't care if he acknowledged her power, or if he– who was she trying to lie to? Of course she cared. A small part of her had always been seeking his approval, as if her progress needed validation from somebody else but her. Even when she knew this was not correct and her own validation was more than enough, somebody as powerful as him was a good reference… and that reference was more important to her than she let on.

One day, though, she decided to move on from that step. Eventually, she stopped wondering if he'd be satisfied, if he would ever care, because deep inside her heart she knew he would _never_ care about anyone else but him. It had taken her too long to realize he had never been good reference, and now that she had him before her, the realization came in cleaner than ever.

His sneer was so terrifyingly arrogant that it made her stop seeing the softness she had harvested, or the small sadness in his wine eyes. She didn't want to see anything like that when she was busy getting stronger and fulfilling her mission. That was his very own motto, wasn't it?

Maybe she was wrong. Actually, she was wrong. She didn't know this, but Bakugou wasn't as hateful as he let on and it was clearly backfiring spectacularly.

He looked at her, over and over. That small woman, the vessel of a powerful soul that was destined to make people underestimate her like he had done in the past. She had never beaten him to the ground, though she _did_ get awfully close for someone of her caliber. And after she had factually taken him down, the fact that she was special and just fucking amazing seemed to shine too bright to his liking.

So bright he was shying away from the light and giving her a graceful view of his back so she'd know she would never catch up again. Even when his heart knew he felt for this girl things that were unspeakable because it'd make things complicated… he couldn't fathom this. He didn't even need to realize his feelings to know they were there and it was fucking _gross_.

He hated this. He wanted to hate these feelings if it weren't for the fact that she was a fucking blessing and he was too much of a jackass to admit it was great to have her by his side. And he couldn't lie either: he was relieved as hell to see well and stronger.

Bakugou had always seen her power, tried to not let it go too high, failed and actually probably hurt her. And god, she had always been a patient saint with him when he was a damn nightmare. He'd never understand why she put up with him.

If they talked their feelings out the story would have a happy ending.

Too bad.

"I don't want you to mess with my business. I don't need you telling me what to do with my power." repeated Uraraka, taking a step further so their foreheads were an inch apart. In their banter, they failed to realize they were too close. "You don't need to worry about me threatening you anymore, and don't worry– I won't even try to be with you anymore. I can tell it will be for fucking nothing in the end."

They had somehow ended inches apart and upon realizing this, both their eyes relaxed a little, like they always done. It was almost instinctive to feel a bit loose when they were close to each other, the interest in the other keeping the flame living and thriving when wine and chocolate met in a delicious mix. She became enticing in a way that didn't invite to violence, or arguments, just calmness and the desire to have her closer.

Her skin… it looked so smooth, her eyes so intoxicating and powerful that she could destroy all the towers of his sanity with a sole flutter of her eyelashes and god, he wanted to deny it but this woman had impressed him from the very beginning, how could he deny there was something about her that pushed him closer and closer? They were destined to crash and fall, his brazen attitude doomed to destroy her patience but little did he know, she could wait for him.

She wanted to think she'd always wait. She came to the conclusion now that she could barely stand the tension anymore. However, his wine eyes attracted her like a bee to the honey, his features so disgusted but so annoyingly beautiful– she had never felt this coiling in her belly before at the thought of what having him closer would feel like, taste like.

She blinked slowly, her thoughts suddenly forgotten. But when he lost sight of her eyes and the ocean they brought with them, Bakugou abruptly pulled away and crossed his arms, ignoring whatever that this was had happened. He knew he could go on chasing the flesh he needed, not the one he was currently lusting for. He could survive without the knowledge of what she felt like. He didn't need it.

And for that, he knew that no matter how close they had been, they would destroy[4] each other. And he wouldn't have that skank fucking up his sane and monochrome perfectly fine world.

"I never fucking asked you to tend my ass, don't even go around saying I ain't–"

Uraraka, snapping out of her daze, took a step back loudly and growled loudly like he would always do to her. Just now he had, again, ran away from her when they were making progress– this had been one too many times. It was over.

"I already said it!" it hurt to say it, heartbreak was coiling in the pits of her stomach, but in the end, after a pant of mental drain, she yelled it. " _I give up on you_!"

The corridor was awkwardly silent after that. Bakugou's eyes flickered with startlement, as if the air had been kicked out of his lungs in the most painful way, and his hands twitched. He looked taken aback, offended, maybe angry even, but she couldn't afford caring about a man like him anymore. Not when he had been dedicating his sweet time to demolishing whatever foundation they built for their relationship. She was tired of him staggering– so she'd be taking a step back for good this time.

"Yeah." she breathed out, breathed in, her eyes lazily fixated into his abs but her eyes were unfocused. He could only wish – his arrogant side, at least – that she was looking at him. Bakugou knew better, though. He wanted to reach out and scream at her all he felt because she was stubborn, she was stupid, and he wanted to scream at himself for being even dumber than the damn terrorist. "I... I'm tired of this. I don't wanna hear your rejections anymore. We– _I_ have better things to worry about."

Uraraka didn't stay to see his reaction turn into a speck of mortification she would have seen. Had she seen the flinch and the shift in his expression, and perhaps she wouldn't be dooming their relationship so quickly. Bakugou's thoughts about reaching out for the only person who genuinely saw him for more than his grumpy façade resonated stronger, but no words left his mouth.

Instead, he saw her turn away, in the same way she had done to face RampAge, and it suddenly dawned on him that whenever Uraraka left… it was because in one way or another, he kicked her out and made her walk away. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Good evening, Bakugou. Hope you rest well."

And the door closed with an ominous thud of disappointment and emptiness, leaving Bakugou alone in the corridor, the sunflowers rotting as his back hunched and he took a step to lay his forehead on the door. His expression was serene, exhausted, sad, just so tired.

He didn't want to be strong anymore. He wanted to let go and let his pride die in the corners of this failed story. He… he didn't want her warmth, the last warmth he had ever felt, to leave his side. And he was already weeks late into this realization.

This was the only time grabbing his weapon wouldn't solve anything.

And with a last whoosh of the wind from a window, the candles were blown into darkness and it was now when Bakugou realized he was, once again, _alone_.

* * *

"Sister… what's love?"

Mina promptly turned from her lookout position to look at Ochako with a wrinkled set of eyebrows, unsure if she had heard her right. Her eyes sparkled in confusion, but when she tried to lock their eyes together, she found the brunette was looking at the village that illuminated the meadow under the cliff– _their village_. She could almost hear the fires cracking under her hands.

"Love." the pink girl tasted the word rolling off her lips, as if it was some candy to lick. It left a tingling feeling in her belly, and another in her heart. She knew this feeling, made her lighter and warmth coil in her veins from inside out, dampening her skin. "That's a super _duper_ easy question you're asking."

In her conundrum, Ochako took a bit to realize the sarcasm in her sister's voice. When she did though, her usual expression of animosity had been wiped clean by one of confusion and thought. "I don't need a book definition. I just…" there was a sigh, then a look edging desperation. "what does it feel like?"

Mina took her fingertip to her cheek and looked at Ochako, then at the fire cackling behind them. Behind the fire slept the boys, back on back and snoring lightly. They had taken the hunting turn and had ended up crashing to sleep pretty quickly. Mina giggled at the scene.

"There are different kinds of love, you see." the big sister curled her arm around the smaller's shoulders. "Do you see the stars? You love them, don't you?"

The sight of stars had always gotten Ochako emotional, tears pricking her eyes as the dots sparkled appreciatively, as if giddy for her attention. There were patches of purple and golden stretched across the sky like mist and dust. The thought of the war ever clouding this view of making it disappear made her heart wrench painfully.

She nodded curtly to not let on more than necessary. "You feel things when you see them– wonder, curiosity, and warmth. You told me one day." she had. Ochako nodded again. "Look at me. You feel good things when you look at me, right?"

It wasn't in her attitude to be sassy or joking to her sister as she was to Katsuki or Kirishima, so she tried to shed a smile for her.

In her distress for her impending mission, the question had fallen onto her shoulders like a boulder. She knew feelings, she had feelings– but there had been a certain sunflower falling out of place, a butterfly flying around her and no matter how much she tried to catch it… she never succeeded to put it a name or quench it.

The smile wasn't natural… but it was there. "You appreciate and love me, you want to protect me! We are family, it's sisterly love!"

Yeah, that sounded very fair and realistic. Finally, Mina pointed at the pair of boys peacefully sleeping on the tree's trunk. Uraraka trailed her eyes slowly to them and immediately softened at the view of them so calm when they would always be bantering and screaming at each other. It was out of character for them to look so idle and tranquil. The girl's lips threatened to spread into a smile.

"Look at those two. They are sleeping soundly and looking so calm it's impossible not to smile for them. Katsuki's so invested in the hunt– I had never seen him so intent on getting something done before." and this wasn't by any means a lie.

While Katsuki displayed certain disdain to mundane subjects that didn't concern him, he was sure interested in this, even if it shouldn't be of his interest in the slightest. This was meant to prevent a war, but why was he doing this if it didn't benefit his allies? True, he had shown mercy to the other side of the war all the time, but he was still Ochako's enemy at war. His side could still win the war and have massive benefits from that victory.

Ochako didn't want to understand it because her morality escaped from these dark themes of greed and insanity, but it made sense for them to want to eradicate her kind. She'd never let them, but why was Katsuki helping her stop the war?

"Strange, right?" muttered she, no suspicion in her voice as she didn't mistrust him enough to believe he was a being made of light. She wanted to think she wouldn't be disappointed.

Mina shook her head with a smile. She was just as naïve as Ochako. "You betcha." Mina took a deep breath and sighed. "You also feel it, don't you?"

The other blinked and looked at Mina, perplexed. "Feel what?"

"Isn't it obvious?" another breath, deep and smooth. "The warmth for them, that radiant feeling coiling at your chest. Feels nice, right?"

Right, it _did_ feel nice. She couldn't lie about that. But still, the kind of warmth that Kirishima and Katsuki issued was so different from one another. While good ol' horsey Harold was this human sack of warmth and hugs and laughs, there was something about Katsuki that, while he was the opposite from that, there was something interesting around him that made her attracted to him like a moth to a flame. No matter the danger of being incinerated, she still gravitated around him like the moon around the Earth, probably destined to crash and burn to the ground and be reduced to ashes.

What was it that made his smirks, his snarky comments and just _him_ so alluring? Why didn't her brain seem to have a say in this?

The butterfly in her heart fluttered out of her and twirled to a stop, and like a magnet flying to the metal, it stretched Ochako's heartstrings to Katsuki's slumped body, and the small little interesting bug landed on Katsuki's heart, melting, and making her eyes glow in wonder and surprise as even when the world had never stopped spinning, it was suddenly rotating out of control.

She wanted to smile. Her heart trumpeted inside her ribcage and almost leaped out of her throat, a knot made of her voice tightening uncomfortably yet so deliciously tight. Mina spoke but it was all a distant echo for the younger girl. "You get it now, do you?"

Mina had barely explained anything, but all of a sudden, Ochako had understood absolutely _everything_. And even when it felt wrong, she smiled– she smiled knowing it would never be, that she was an alien to him, and she'd be lost in his space forever.

"Yeah. I do."

* * *

Uraraka woke up in the middle of the night and knew exactly what this felt like. She had felt this before, in the past, in a hidden place of her memory that broke her heart asunder just at the thought of how much things had changed from one place and time to another.

Her heart was beating fast, her cheeks were flustered, and she palmed the nightstand by her table in panic. She didn't even remember falling asleep to begin with, just knew she was waking up when a choking sensation filled her heart. There were no signs of rest in her body, though, or any traces of calm in her stormy irises.

Her first instinct after that kind of dream was to jot it down to keep track of the series of images she was being presented, only to realize she had probably left it at the residence mornings ago and had been unable to retrieve it after Bakugou's ambush on her. She was positively scared of both forgetting about the story and somebody discovering it and sharing it with the wrong hands.

It's not like they were forbidden dreams like someone lusting for the devil, but she'd probably be seen that way in some people's eyes. And the way her dreams depicted that little girl was all too familiar.

Much to her startlement, it was still dark outside. There was no sign of the sun appearing soon to start the rough and complicated day she had ahead– because she knew that now cooperating with Bakugou would be even more complicated than it needed to be. She was open to cooperating and then leaving them be so their guild would be traitor-less once more, why did he have to be so stubborn on framing her that soon.

With these thoughts in mind, Uraraka sat on the bed, all blankets ruffled to her lap and rubbed her face with both hands. There was this increasing need to scream into her palms, but it occurred to her there were people sleeping nearby. Still, she knew that she wouldn't be sleeping again any time soon, and sighed because this was probably the night she'd need to sleep the most.

Uraraka jumped off the bed and when her hand reached out for one of the shawls she had been given, a shiver ran down her spine at the memory. Her getting a shawl to cover her shoulder always ended on something good or something bad, but yet again she was freaking cold and whatever beliefs on destiny had to wait their turn.

However, she didn't lit up any candles to not tempt fate that hard. The ghosts of her once good past didn't need to come back and hunt her down.

She wasn't certain of the structure of the building. She missed the moonlight shining down at her back at the village, and the small breeze that was filtering through the mildly closed window that led to a small balcony. Gently, Uraraka padded to the window and opened it. The door opened with a clack and a groan of the hinges after such long time of no use. Not much people must bother taking a moment to breathe out, breathe in, and bask in the glow of the night.

Silence permeated the air around her in a pregnant, everlasting tension. She cast her eyes up into the sky, the view so familiar yet so awfully distant from home, her heart throbbing in nostalgia. The residence they were staying in was far away from the city, on the hills that surrounded the Capital and out of the walls. Knowing this guild, they probably had a way through the walls. They weren't the top tier guild for no reason.

The sorcerer sighed and draped the shawl tighter around her frame, her eyes downcast again in deep thought. She sometimes wondered how it would have been if she had stayed in that village, wrapped in love with the people who whispered a probably plastic love and warmth, striking familiarity, love, admiration… and even when she had tried to run away, she was here. With them.

The awkwardness and irony of the situation only made her wonder if it had been _her_ who had made the decision to leave or it had been some higher entity. Uraraka looked up to the stars. Surely, she couldn't hear the voices and the deities, but they were probably there, mocking her. If only she knew.

She sighed again, looking down at the lights that shone in the city. It was so awe striking to see a mass of lights like that when she knew it was all candles and fire, all rebelling against the starlit sky. There was a mistful breeze blowing her tresses as tranquility washed over her like the rush of the sea, putting her at ease. The Capital looked so beautiful, bathed in candlelights like a crown of lights.

It was a shame somebody was seeking to destroy such a treasure, lurking underground.

"Oi, what's the long face for?"

Uraraka quickly whipped around to be met with a familiar douchebag sitting on the roof of the ceiling, watching her with a bored expression. Whatever he had to do there wasn't anything he was enjoying, anything he wanted to do and he could go to hell for all she cared. "Bakugou! What the hell are you doing here?"

The leader snarled. One of his arms was bent over his knee, looking at her as if she had pissed him off greatly. "The hell? That ain't your business."

"It is when this is my bedroom and I literally told you a few hours ago to leave me alone!" exclaimed Uraraka in a whisper, making her irritation clear as Bakugou leaped over to her level, walking to her side casually. "Were you watching me? Are you being serious right now?"

He growled at her and kept his voice as peeved yet not as low as it should have been. "Have you ever seen me do shit half-assed and fool around?" he didn't wait for her to answer though Uraraka had something to say about that. "Then shut up. I was just on duty. I am still a leader during the night, don't make this all about yourself!"

The lie was so badly explained Bakugou screamed internally at himself for the fake act. Uraraka blinked at him and, while parts of her heart warmed because he was somewhat showing they had had progress since their first encounter, she was too angry at him to see his intentions clearly. "You had enough times to redeem yourself. What even is this for?" her hands bunched at the shawl as his fisted in his pockets. It brought back many faded memories to their minds. "Are you here to tell me I'm a bitch? That I'm a traitor not worth your time, a terrorist?"

She was again talking without thinking but what was she gonna do? Was she supposed to stay put all her life and let him badmouth her unfairly? Of course not.

Uraraka crossed her arms and looked ahead. She was well aware of the rustle of his clothes as he walked closer. Only now did she notice he didn't have his cape on, making his figure all the more enticing and… she gulped, remembering the thoughts prior to her sleep, and blushed in a small shade of pink she immediately shook away. Her feelings weren't fleeting leaves, she would stay mad at him and give him twice of his attitude back to him.

"Leave me alone, Bakugou."

He let out an angry noise of disapproval. Expected, yet still sickeningly disappointing. "Uraraka–"

"I said leave me alone!" she let out, defensively, starting to build up her walls to start telling herself that her kindness had been taken for granted once, criticized, and that she wouldn't let herself go so easily as she had done with him. "I just wanna–!"

"Fucking shut up already! How many times do I have to tell you to not interrupt your leader?" his arms tensed, shook, palms outstretched and small curtains of smoke steaming from them. He was ready to attack her if she didn't shut up no matter the unbreakable tranquility of the night. Only Bakugou could dare jeopardize a sanctuary like this. "I have shit to say and I ain't gonna repeat it twice. So you can sit down, pout all you wanna or pretend I don't exist but you are gonna hear it anyway."

Uraraka promptly crossed her arms even tighter yet, just as a bow of respect, decided to listen carefully. The man watched her curiously and as many times as he tried to catch her glare with hers there was no way she'd acknowledge his attempts. He had expected her to be more understanding, but also knew that after so many tries on her part to fix their strained and chaotic friendship she had grown tired of his shenanigans.

And now here they were, standing beside each other at a loss of words. After so much time of wasted bonding, bantering, and explaining, they seemed as if they had run out of words to say to the other how much they felt for the other, whether it was love or hatred. There was a hint of defeat in his unbeatable wine irises. After so much time of her being gone he still respected her, he still admired her, she was still a valuable asset.

And as time had gone on and he had come to the tragic realization of his feelings, Bakugou had sank into utter despair and confusion. Many scenarios of him making things right no matter how much she walked away, dreams in which he caught up to her and her kindness hadn't been thrown to waste. Many scenarios in which he could bring her back to his side.

Bakugou felt for the ghost of her, mourned the thought of her, but now that he had her in front of him he was at a loss of what to do to bring her back to the shore.

When he spoke again, his tone was undeniably soft. His body was present, but his mind had wandered into the depths of his troubled mind, eyes closed and taking a deep breath.

"My mother was another traitor like you."

Uraraka's eyes rose an inch in realization that this was like light being thrown to the troubles of her mind, then shifting to gaze up to him in surprise and amazement, never having heard him speak so slow, so cautious, as if tender for one second and his fierce nature had been replaced with bashful thoughtfulness and reposition. Realizing this was probably a topic too sensitive for him, her hand tingled to reach for his arm and rub it. She didn't, just twitched and bit her lip.

She looked at him in alarm. "Wait, you don't need to…"

"I'm not gonna fucking talk about this again so if this will stop your bitching, you better quit it. I'm not gonna have you whining around my people for a fucking apology or closure. Just shut it and let me talk, roundface."

There he was again with that goddamn awful nickname, but she still closed her mouth and crossed her arms. She felt partly guilty for making him think this would solve their issues– but couldn't he see that spilling some shit about their past would absolutely not help their situation? Above all, she couldn't want this when he was feeling forced to do it. She knew her anger towards him was completely reasonable after how much he had held their progress back with his stubborn pride and unexplainable fury towards her kind. She appreciated the thought, but how would this help?

She wanted to be even angrier. Uraraka couldn't find the heart to be madder at somebody who was opening their heart like that. It didn't make things better, but it didn't make them worse either. She'd at least be polite and listen.

"We lived somewhere far away from this country for all I know. There was no water, no shit, just forests and a small well somewhere around." his gaze was cast at the moon in deep thought. She could tell he was averting her gaze and focusing on the breeze around them. "My mom knew how to do shit like you, y'know. She was one of those people who are either jinxed or born with magic, like Hagakure or you I guess."

Uraraka was dumbfounded at his statement. So his mother was a fucking _sorcerer_ and he had been so hell-bent on hating her kind all this time? What was up with his double standards? She was about to say something but for once bit her tongue and let him go on.

"The Council saw her one day on an expedition. She was fooling around with us and some others when this troop of a fuckton of soldiers came and basically took her away. We were taken with her, just because we were thought to be of use to this shitty government as well." a government full of shadows and corruption. Uraraka hoped this era hadn't been a thing while Bakugou was there to witness it. "Everything is a blur, and I'm not gonna give you a fucking sight of my fucking childhood but I was as lonely as a damn wolf."

Alone? It seemed hard to be alone in such a city, but when he had no family around that was much probably being used for military purposes – or so she anticipated – it made sense he felt lonely. Just imagining a little barbarian lost in the city with no parents and no way to find friends… it made her so sad. Thinking his ego, his fear for people and his trust issues came from such a complex root made her feel bad for thinking him to be just a plain jerk.

She had always known he was more than a hard wall with even harder muscles, but being told it had a story behind made her feel a sense of depth she wouldn't have expected in him– or at least, living to hear about it.

"One day," there was a deep breath taken with staggering pulse. "my mom was sent to explore the area of the north. When the disruptions of RampAge were starting to get serious, those assholes took the hint and sent their elite soldiers there, where my mother and father were included, naturally."

She could tell where this story was going, she could feel pieces already clicking together, but she tried to hold the realization in and listen to the story.

"She got too curious. She knew what her power could do, it was destructive like no other. She got too fucking confident." Bakugou had talked to a point he seemed to ignore her presence and just talk to himself. "She dared face the devil itself, go against it when she was just a fucking worm compared to the monstrosity it was back then. She… paid a fucking hard price for her confidence– everyone paid a hard price for her confidence."

All went silent, a void of no sound where all she could hear were the distant critters and the breeze. Uraraka could suddenly understand many things, see the small and brief glisten of his eyes, the ground opened beneath her feet and attempted to swallow her whole. Grief coated her eyes in realization that of course he'd hate her kind, because– because–

"You sorcerers are just cocky, confident little shits that don't take anything into consideration." Bakugou's heart throbbed inside his ribcage, a fist on his heart as if trying to soothe it after so many years of storm in the ocean of his brave mind. "She betrayed me. She told me she'd be back, but her fucking greed for victory and justice took my parents away, because she wanted to keep us safe from a useless threat. You sorcerers just don't take anything into consideration, don't you?"

Uraraka felt speechless at the pure and absolute hatred he let free in his words despite knowing his fury had lessened lately– not faded, but dimmed considerably. Regardless, she needed a small clarification. "So… you hate us, because you're grieving?"

The blonde, of course, looked at her as if she had gotten the whole story– _his_ whole story, his fucking background, his foundations, completely wrong. "The fuck? No! I just fucking–"

"You just told me your mother betrayed you… because she died, Bakugou, because she left to do what was best for her family and the civilization as a whole." interrupted Uraraka with a soft voice, aware that he'd snap if she wasn't cautious enough. "Because she made you unhappy and went against your wishes, because she abandoned you. And that's why you think I was always bound to betray you, right? Because I was… a sorcerer, too."

That was an awfully basic way to put it but… she was right. His own traumas had somehow given birth to this monster who was still, deep in his mind, hell-bent on thinking that if he cared for a sorcerer again, he'd end up heartbroken again. He could already feel Uraraka's eyes of pity on him and he fucking despised it– he didn't want her pity to solve things, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to solve things seeing what her current status was like: a runaway with no purpose and no ties.

Bakugou knew Uraraka would leave again. The ties of his guild hadn't been enough once, they would very likely not be enough once more. The thought was so misery-striking it gave him a sinking feeling that made him angry, made him know he had made a mistake, knowing she'd betray him again–

"I didn't mean… to leave that way. I can't lie and say I didn't know you'd be pissed that somebody would leave the guild so suddenly or just… go against a big enemy like that. I also wanted to protect you all and find a breakthrough." explained she, and by the way he looked at her in royal annoyance she could tell he was taking her seriously, for once. "I didn't mean to betray you, but that was the price to pay."

Bakugou stayed in silence for a minute, curling his fingers into the stone railing of the balcony. If he said what he was about to say, there were big chances she would get even cockier with him and her sass would show up more often (not that he thought it was bad, he secretly was nuts for it). Still, looking at the situation unlike he had done a few times before, he knew he had to look at the context of all of this and, for once, push it aside for the sake of their operation and her stay.

If he wanted her to stay, even if he would never admit it, then he'd risk being sincere before being a brash liar. However, before he could speak, Uraraka interrupted him softly to explain. She would give him the explanation she should have provided the very first day.

"I know it hurts to have a painful reminder of what your mother did. I know you resent the way she left you behind and how many trust issues it must generate." and after what she said before about giving up on him, no wonder he had come to apologize. The fear must still be rooted deep within him and made him fearful of losing what little genuine care he received. Uraraka had known all along that he appreciated it, even if it was in secret. "I always meant to be kind to you, Bakugou. I never meant to do what I did but I grew… desperate."

"I know."

Uraraka looked up and, to his surprise, he was looking back at her with a genuine gaze that he knew would convey what he wanted to say: he was still angry at her, but deep inside, he understood.

"I don't condone your actions but I can fucking understand why you did what you did. If I had been told over and over again to be just an ant when I can be a bear, I'd grow sick of it too. I know I screwed up big time as well, and while I fucked up by somewhat pushing you out, you fucked up by doing things the way you did and taking the wrong side." seeing him be so cautious and somewhat just _peeved_ made her realize he had been thinking about this. A lot.

However, she was aware of the fact that he was absolutely right. He had a big part on this issue, but she had also played hooky and left without any sort of explanation. If anything, she had acted like a bitch for not even saying goodbye to anyone and pretending to be dead and gone. The way they had done things, overall, was just a mess.

Bakugou was an intelligent man. It was almost impossible for him to apologize due to pride issues, but always found ways to make things right his own way.

Uraraka didn't know for how long she'd stay around (not forever, she knew, because she had another bigger quest to solve against the timelines, and Bakugou probably knew this), but she'd make sure she fixed things.

"I'm… sorry, Bakugou." spoke Uraraka with all her heart, a hand on her chest and a pained expression of sadness and regret. "I can't say my decision was the worst, but I'm sorry for the way it affected you all." her eyes were narrowed in bitter realization. "I was always sure you'd maybe even be glad that I was gone on the long run."

The leader gritted his teeth. "How the fuck do you expect me to be glad one of my best warriors is fucking dead, Uraraka? If you thought I was gonna be throwing a party after somebody I..."

The girl blinked, and looked at him again in confusion, but deep in her mind she had a dim conclusion of what he was trying to convey after tonight. "Somebody you…?"

Bakugou wrinkled his nose and stared at her with a bored yet trademark angry expression."You already fucking know. If I gotta repeat myself after all this you clearly are a dumbass." he looked away into the horizon and into the city, glancing out at the lights

It took her a few seconds to process the information and when she did, her mouth formed a small "o" to then fade into a smile of understanding. He had said it before, there at the river when they were stranded, hadn't he? He had told her in a thousand different stupid ways that he cared for her, deep inside. He was all teeth and bones, but he also had a heart.

In the end, the faith Uraraka had put in him and all the patience she had had with him had blossomed into this development.

Uraraka's heart felt undeniably light after it. "Oi, roundface!"

Felt so light that, in fact, she was absent-mindedly floating up with gone eyes and sprayed hair. Her knees bent, her uniform blowing in the breeze and her face finally one of tranquility with the closure and peace she deserved after being so damn patient with him… and he couldn't lie, the view of the sorcerer in such peace gave him a small sense of pride.

Before he could marvel around it any further her expression broke into one of startlement. "Oh, shit!"

The leader had to grab her wrist before she was gone into outer space, deadpanning. "You gotta learn how to control that shit, Uraraka. I ain't gonna have you floating to the moon every time you get happy about some crap."

He was grabbing her like a balloon, as if he actually treasured her for once, and just after so long of fighting against him and keeping breaking his walls little by little, it was good to pull back and see the progress, even if it had taken a death and a half for her to get there. It looked like they would someday be friends. Maybe, she'd be able to chase his demons away before she inevitably left for good.

The thought had her giddy in excitement for their strengthened bond, but her expression turned mortified at such childish display. Her eyes reflected the glorious shimmer of the moon as she floated some feet above him, looking at her leader with a mixture of embarrassment and joy that not even _he_ could deny her. A part of him knew that he had done the right thing by being honest– a sap, but still honest.

Seeing such a true expression of happiness come back when he had seen in her the very first day, yet had robbed from her made him feel light as well. Bakugou could feel that gross heat branch from his heart to his being and he fucking hated the effect she had on him when she was her true self. Uraraka was a powerhouse, she was kickass, but he liked this side of her better when they weren't throwing punches at the other. His back had wings embedded to it, he wanted to soar and fly into the promises of her eyes.

She wouldn't stay for long. His guildmates, at least the vast majority, thought she'd be there to stay and never leave, but he knew best– he could only try to keep her grounded for so long. But he'd make sure they closed their business before the fated day came.

The blonde looked to his side as a surge of conflicted feelings rose anew, knowing he would only get to see that smile for a limited amount of time, that they'd fight against and alongside each other for just a period of time. But he could live with that. Somebody who had impressed him and made their way into his heart only deserved his respect.

"Tch, stop looking down at me like fucking Deku and get back down." muttered he. Bakugou gently tugged her down, slowly pushing her to the ground once more. "You're ridiculous."

Seconds later, she was down before him. Their bodies were merely separated by a breath, chests a kiss away and his hand still gripping her wrist as if fearful she'd go again. His expression was undeniably molten for somebody who had suffered of abandonment issues so long ago and so badly. He seemed afraid he'd be abandoned once again when he had just experienced what being cared for so passionately was about.

Bakugou was undeniably both soft and stern when it came to her and they were alone like this. But no other person had ever triggered this unknown desire to be by her side. And he didn't want to let go of that unknown feeling that made him weak and _human_ for once in his life.

This feeling… it was impossible to explain, the hidden adoration he felt for this stubborn, strong and sweet terrorist of his. One he fucking hated but at the same time absolutely loved. His body begged to get closer to her, his brain screaming at him for being weak out of character. He couldn't find the strength to care or to let go after knowing this feeling existed.

She didn't want to let go, either. Uraraka could only dare blink and say, "I'm sorry, Bakugou." for having left and before the time came for her to leave him again. "I'm so sorry."

He could see through her as if she was a transparent sheet of water. "I know." he sighed tiredly. She could see the apology in front of her as if it was a damn mountain, and for now, that was enough. There was no pleasure in seeing things be solved this way, but she was glad he was at least sorry like she was. "Trust me… I fucking know."

Maybe it was just a second what transpired with them looking at each other both sternly and kindly, feeling their hearts take a leap to be closer together, and it wasn't until she realized how close they were that unlike he had done before, she wiggled free from his grip and wrapped her arms around his body, palms on his naked back, cheek on his chest listening to his heart throb painfully against his ribcage. He was warm, like a sunny day in spring with a warmth that healed your body from inside out, spraying her with a tingling feeling of euphoria.

And, miraculously, as if this was meant to be, he wrapped his around her waist, another hand pressing her head to his chest as if telling her to listen to his heart, because it wasn't beating that loudly in response to his anger at her– because trust him he was still angry, but he would let it go if it meant keeping her anchored to his side. His digits tangled into her chestnut locks and his nose buried itself on the crown of her head.

Bakugou let a second pass, then his hold on her tightened a notch. "Just…" a growl of irritation, because he never thought he'd be saying this shit to her, of all people. "Don't fucking die again." a second passed and he knew he didn't need to say this for he still did out of stubborness. "Also you better not tell anybody about this or I'm murdering you myself."

A small hearty chuckle was heard from her, which sunk into his heart slowly, like a feather. "Got it. But then… don't push me to the edge, alright?"

His shoulders heavened into a sigh of either relief or vexation, he couldn't know which, for the person he had in his arms made him so fucking angry yet so damn different and just _happy_ with all the fights they had had, all their bickering, all of their everythings he just couldn't see a traitor anymore. It was just Uraraka, his fighting partner, the one who had bathed in crimson underneath his screaming to grow into this miracle of a warrior and a dear, admirably ally to his heart.

But for now he could only feel her body against hers, smile just an inch and say, "Whatever." because he'd have enough time to show her that her faith hadn't been misplaced.

And for her… for now, that was all she wanted.

Because in the wake of a new adventure and after feeling like she had been asleep forever, in the embrace of the beast who howled at the moon, Uraraka's heart beated for the first time in forever and came to an unmistakable, fated conclusion that slapped her in the face. It was so sudden when it dawned on her that she felt like she was choking, dying in the flesh, and held him tighter.

Uraraka was in love with Bakugou and she was suddenly absolutely and utterly _terrified_.


	8. C h ă p t r 1 5

She's in love with him, right? She loves him. Like tide crashing against the seams, Uraraka had found herself falling from heaven into a pitch dark world of confusion, obsidian doubt and tremor rushing through her veins. To her, it was like blinking, except how she was painfully aware of every bat of her eyelashes, and above all, _his_.

Uraraka didn't known how long they stayed in that embrace, but once they eventually parted she knew something had changed. It had been a mistake, like a tree falling in the silence of the forest where there was no one to witness it.

It felt weird, loving him like this. Thinking of their hug and the reminiscence of the feeling of his arms around her made her heart flutter uncomfortably, yet it wasn't that much of an unpleasant feeling either. If anything, she felt warmth coiling in her belly at this emotional feeling that sent her heart soaring. Maybe, she had felt this way before. Deep inside, she knew she had felt this way for longer than forever.

Yet she knew these feelings were doomed from the start — him being a leader and her being in charge of an important mission: unwrencking the havoc that was coiling in this world. It was a good idea to tell the guild to go with her — yet she knew this was _her_ mission. After so much contact with such a suspicious individual like Aizawa, it only felt right _she_ ended up facing him in the end.

She had a gut feeling that pointed at the mysterious man that had created the monstrosity as the havoc upbringer, the one that almost killed her— the key to finding her strength, like turning around a corner in a packed street and being met with an empty avenue and there was no way back into the main road. All the could do was go with her life and first untie all loose ends regarding the Jirou clan. She couldn't start building a house from the roof.

And even when she had all reasons to go defeat Aizawa for creating RampAge — the monster who killed Bakugou's mother, and almost Uraraka herself — she knew she had to wait for the pieces to be in line, and also get stronger. In the ways Aizawa hadn't gotten to her and Shinsou said all was going according to plan, it was as if they were already waiting for her— maybe to realize, maybe to make a move, maybe to walk the path that was absolute and undeniable.

It was as if, indeed, _everything was going according to plan_ , to what fate wanted. It made her feel like nothing but the fool, a marionette, a pawn in someone's performance and game. It was ridiculous. Like they knew she'd fall for it and they were waiting for her to take the wrong step. She was no fool, though.

Yet, regardless, Uraraka couldn't help but feel nothing was so black and white. It was a clash of ideologies: fatalism versus hope. She didn't know which was the right way, but maybe everyone (the whole world) was waiting for her. The planet seemed to somehow spin around her sometimes, and it made her feel ever so lonely. Perhaps Bakugou would have been able to fix that.

Alas, she couldn't give in to this when she knew she'd end up betraying him again and leaving. If he had been so upset over her leaving, she would never forgive herself for inflicting this same pain, this same blister again. Maybe she wouldn't live after the chaos to find peace in her heart, and let the sunflowers bloom again.

Uraraka wouldn't let this love grow. She couldn't allow herself to be loved and love back, if he corresponded her feelings — which of course he didn't, feelings seemed to be silly for him — a shallow thought, yet very likely. Therefore, she wouldn't need to worry about breaking his shattered heart asunder, for she never held the hammer to start with.

She'd forget about it all and leave when the time came. These feelings would fade away soon if she didn't pay attention to them. It was painful to know that this love was something she couldn't allow herself to act on.

But she'd get over it, leave, get stronger, and be gone forever.

"So, an assassin, huh?"

Her mind slowly landed back on Earth upon hearing Midoriya speak her name from under her. She had been standing before him as he sat on the comfy couch of the hall in the residence. His hands clutched the fabric of her dark cloak, staring at the small pin on her uniform, attached to one of the ends of her brown corset. It was a simply red and black blaring symbol, one resembling a moon as Shinsou had explained.

She gingerly touched the pin she could only name as a round thing with two creepy colors. In her defense, she hadn't really gotten to carry out any assassinations, in contrast to the many Shinsou had allegedly carried out while being the leader of Grinning Blade. It was a scary thought, one that had put a damper on their cooperation more than once but she had had to let the violin strings snap free, and just let her judgement flee from her mind and focus on her tasks.

Their master had insisted that those pins and accreditations would give them better and quicker access to whatever place they needed to go. Uraraka thought it was just badass. She had barely gotten to use it before Shinsou would gently brainwash the heck out of them. She rarely got to do the dirty work but when she did, she was probably impatient or angry. Which was a rarity of its own.

"It's not as menacing as it seems." spoke she gently. A ray of light shimmered on the sleek surface of the medal. "We have blood on our hands, but we aren't some kind of maniacs. Not the type some of you consider us to be."

Midoriya's face contorted into one of worry and startlement at her brash way of saying things but honestly, could he blame her? They hadn't been exactly kind to her in many ways. They had been welcoming, sure, but Yaoyorozu had warned her about how everyone still held that little grudge over her after her staged runaway, but she wouldn't complain. She hadn't exactly done much to gain any of what little she was getting.

"I assumed you had been getting some serious training. You have gotten tough, Uraraka." the green-haired leader shared a tender smile. "I'm glad to have you on board again."

He was cautious enough to not mention for how long he'd expect her to be there and that put her on edge. As an eloquent leader it wasn't in him to conceal his thoughts yet he seemed to be just cooperating for the sake of the mission. Some things would need lots of work to polish. "It's good to be back." and she left it at that, knowing that Midoriya knew her and could easily fish the words out of her.

She had already lost count of how many times she had said that same line, it felt overly repetitive and it was nagging on her more than it should. At times, seeing the emotional drain this supposed, she wondered if it was really worth staying around for. She would always remember afterwards that these were only the first days and that she had a mission and yes, she would always snap back to her rightful self… but the negative feelings she had felt back when she was rightfully there came back in tidal waves of disappointment and confusion.

Uraraka fumbled a bit with her small badge. It usually acted as a reminder of how far she had gone to get that small achievement. Aizawa had made them both go through the regular procedures to get the badge from the government. Considering the complicated but fruitful relationship between her master and Gunhead, the General had probably overlooked Uraraka's now "dark" side considering she was under Aizawa's wing.

A side that looked gloomier on Gunhead's end and made her think of what stuff her master had to do with a now corrupt general— but for her part of the story, she'd let it pass.

The thing is her side wasn't dark. it was different. She refused to let the dark side concept sink in because it was just _wrong_ to her. She wasn't doing anything wrong by siding with the man Bakugou hated the most. It was for everyone's sake, despite whatever intentions they had for her. She could dodge that side of the contract if she was cautious. They acted like she was exactly doing what they wanted to a point she barely knew which side she was choosing— was there any side, even?

What were the limits of good and evil beyond appearances?

The sound of the door creaking open startled Uraraka and, again, made her snap out of it. She was focusing too much on those feelings lately. The sound of rain was somewhat getting closer to her.

Speaking of feelings, not only did Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Mina walk in. That coarse captain of hers also strode in and Uraraka's back stiffened to the maximum degree. She was, as she said, becoming aware of her own existence now that he was there to hinder all of it. "Good morning guys!"

Yes, that sounded natural. The key was to not make evident there had been a change. She had to be natural, like apples. She had to be a ripe apple, fresh and clean from the tree and rolling around like she always had. Naturally. Simply. Being her collected yet upbeat self. That's right. Be an apple.

Uraraka rolled her shoulders to shrug the stress off. Mina came from behind and gave those shoulders of hers a little rub. "Tough night?"

The blonde leader with the burning eyes of wine didn't regard her much, just strode in to Midoriya's side to, this once, talk to him like he actually meant to be serious. He didn't look that well either, was he having sleeping problems? The world seemed to only revolve around them both and she both hated the addicting sight of him, and loved that delicious murderous feeling coiling at her belly.

The sorcerer slanted her palms on top of Mina's, and turned around with a small smile. "Yeah, tough indeed." Mina's hands were still on her shoulders, ignorant of the conversation going on behind them. While Uraraka was probably one of the main drivers of the operation, she felt so out of it at times like these. Uraraka curled her arms around Mina's shoulders and hugged her close. The familiar feeling of her comforting hugs was alluring and hypnotizing. "I didn't get to greet you properly the other day."

The archer hugged her close as well, smiling giddily. The door opened again behind them. "I'm so glad you're back, sis. Flowers didn't seem to bloom without you."

Uraraka giggled, warm air surrounding her as she spoke and took in the sheer love and fondness Mina seemed to transfix. "They do take a long time to bloom, don't they?" answered the brunette calmly, jovially, as of this conversation had happened somewhat before—

"Yeah, I hope you..."

Both of them froze, Mina's words trailing off as the sorcerer's eyes widened and her grip on the archer weakened a notch. Mina seemed to realize this oddity too and looked at her with wide eyes, too, mirroring their expressions. That phrase… _they had said it before_. Whatever rain she had felt from before was getting closer as a fuzz entered her ears and, suddenly, she didn't know where she was anymore.

The archer's brows crinkled in confusion. She had said that phrase, too. Where, though, and most importantly, _when_?

"Oi, Uraraka, come here for a second!"

For the upteenth time Uraraka snapped out of her reverie and gave her friend a nervous smile, leaping away to the leaders' side. People around her seemed to be getting ready and in the lapse of time she had been staring at the void of her memory and Mina's eyes, people had gathered around. The air was packed of voices and encouraging chatter. Everyone seemed excited, yet alarmed by the recent discoveries surrounding the very same government that loomed at every corner of the room.

Nobody knew what was happening yet was painfully aware of what _could_ happen. The wood creaked with every step she took. "What is it?"

Bakugou merely nodded at her in acknowledgement, and she reciprocated the gesture while Midoriya explained. "You have been around this place for a bit longer than us. Do you know of any suspicious or off-limits places downtown?"

He was showing her a small map of the circular Capital, and she observed it with a finger curled around her chin. The sensation of everyone collectively holding their breaths was excruciatingly tense. "I wouldn't say so. The city has been pretty tame when it comes to security and stuff these days inside the town as we talked yesterday."

"We are looking for some kind of entrance around the town that can lead to the underground facility we talked about." explained Todoroki. His eyes were focused on the map, tracing some shapes on the paper. It only reminded Uraraka harder of the issue they had talked about the day before.

Yaoyorozu walked in right then and crossed her arms. She was intelligent enough to catch up with the topic at first glance and hearing. "I'm guessing they have their entrance in the actual building of the Council. It shouldn't be a blaring entrance."

Bakugou shook his head, focusing as well on the houses and buildings that were traced on the paper. His arms were crossed in vexation. "That ain't it. We're guessing there's some other kind of emergency door that wouldn't stand out much to other authorities. The actual town is their playground, so why not put a rat door around somewhere?"

Uraraka drew a conclusion quickly. "What about the sewers?"

"We already discarded that one. We have been looking around there too in case we found anything related to the Jirous, like a secret lair or something." Midoriya shook his head and sighed. "We left empty-handed."

"But maybe if you look around again you will find something else— wasn't there any door or anything like that?"

Todoroki shook his head. "Nothing really. But maybe it's worth checking out again. We need to cover as much field as possible." the knight crossed his arms in silent pondering. Everyone looked at the map like it was the naughtiest criminal on Earth. "Still, when we sent the last troop of people, nobody found anything other than a door for management purposes. The sewers were empty."

"It's still the nearest and most useful net to what could be the underground facility." spoke Midoriya slowly. Her bottom lip was trapped between her pearly teeth. Uraraka did the same without even looking. "It wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of passage between the surface and the undergrounds. If there isn't, then this passage must lay somewhere aside from the sewers' infrastructure."

The girl frowned at the lack of a map of the sewers, which she guessed they either didn't have or hadn't bothered to do. "You guys got no map of the sewers, do you?"

Of course, Bakugou instantly thought she was doubting them, but could read between the lines and knew she didn't mean it that way. The tone of offense showed through his words regardless. "Oi, the sewers aren't that intricate. We haven't made a map because we don't need one— it's just a circular section with a fuckton of water and waste metal lying around the place."

"It's a perfect way to hide a lair that big though!" argued Uraraka. The leader growled at her fit of rebellion and gave her a nasty side-eye. But it didn't look like the same kind of regression they had been going through, always taking a step forward to take two back, the circle of hatred becoming endless. Instead, it was more of a 'why can't you follow my lead' side-eye. Not aggressive, just like a lament. "It's very hidden in plain sight, just like all those guards!"

"The Jirou clan seems to have a speck of class— you really think they'd put a passage so bluntly when they are a fuckton of people? How stupid can you be?"

Todoroki, sensing there was some kind of argument coming, slanted a hand on Bakugou's shoulder to appease him, yet Uraraka wasn't done. She knew he wasn't that stupid to harm an actual peer now that she was _confirmed_ to be one, unlike before. Uraraka could still feel the scar his axe had left on her shoulder, and she gripped it promptly.

The scarlet tears had fallen from her wounds slowly as her sight faded away. The clear sky had always greeted her sight — when Bakugou almost killed her yet then healed her, when she had almost drowned at the river, twice, and when RampAge had ended her life.

A blue, cloudless sky had shined above her through the waters, through the blood, through the frost. She had dazedly stared at the heavens opening the gates for her with lidded eyes, mouth agape, before she was robbed of that release. Yet, just before blacking out, she would always hear the distant drizzle of the rain and cloudy skies— ripples on the water, clacking on the ice, wetness on her skin diluting the blood. It was like a split world full of lies.

But she knew that the blistering wine in his eyes was no lie. And she could always bark back at him. "I am giving an idea. We can always roam around the town and search or at least have a clue on where to search more intently."

"Did you think I didn't have that idea?"

Before the always cooperative but now forward Uraraka could respond, Midoriya stepped between them — none of them two had noticed they had, yet again, gotten closer to each other — with an urgent look. Midoriya also assumed they would end up brawling again in the middle of the hall. Nobody was aware of the small development from last night. She didn't know if she liked it that way, so secretly. Perhaps he wanted to keep the peace he had found between them a secret to not let people know he _could_ let up and soften the slightest bit.

Man. Bakugou sure was stubborn. He did look like the kind to keep his appearances in face of the public— not meaning he was a total softie, but he wasn't that tough either.

Midoriya's words came to her ear while Bakugou and her had a stare showdown. Intensely. She was always willing to cooperate, but she also wanted to share her ideas. There is a difference. "We _had_ thought about making a small tour around the Capital in small groups to not attract unnecessary attention. We don't want the guards to know we are sniffing around the wrong corners."

The sorcerer seemed convinced by this, and nodded quietly. Ever since Bakugou had spoken about his theory on RampAge, Uraraka was very aware of how sketchy and extreme Bakugou's measures were. She trusted his leadership, yet feared the consequences. She trusted _him_ as a whole, had taken its time but she did trust him with her life after a long time of him threatening to crush her body under his fist. She had experienced it first hand. But she still chose to trust him instead of antagonizing him.

And it had been for the best. He calmed down after the stupid outburst and looked at her with an unreadable gaze. Was he as thoughtful about her as she was to him? Perhaps. Knowing him he'd never act on it, and just keep on building tension. His eyebrows crinkled down an inch and she gulped in response. It was all so _mutual_ and so fucking intoxicating. Did he know what he did to her with his orders and clashing with her so intensely? Bakugou always did everything on a 100%, passionately.

Whatever he was thinking couldn't be good for her. And thus, another brick of tension was put.

The brunette got over the tension and rolled her shoulders again. Her hand remained on her shoulder. Nobody seemed to notice this oddity, she wasn't even in pain. For her, it was a mark of just how dangerous that barbarian was. "Yes, ok, the sewers. Got it. How are we going to organize the patrols?"

Yaoyorozu palmed her other shoulder, as if mentally telling Uraraka to stop fidgeting about. Was she so obvious about her distress and tension? "Jack, you and me will go together for now. I think Bakugou will go with Kirishima and Midoriya will go with Todoroki." Yaoyorozu read Uraraka's sudden urge in the way she opened her mouth to speak again and interrupted her. "Yes, we have a fixed route, and somebody will go to the sewers, don't worry. You are too urgent for your own good."

The girl noticeably deflated after her concerns had been seen to and honestly, she wasn't content yet and she probably wouldn't be content until it was all sorted out. She eyed Bakugou briefly before looking at the knight in front of her, who seemed to be waiting for her to ask anything else. Yaoyorozu saw through her like wet paper. With a smile, the sorcerer shook her head and wordlessly dismissed the girl to her affairs, which she did after a gentle nod.

It was good someone didn't need to ask her to know what she needed. Uraraka could very likely screw up with this tense air she was holding, it was sometimes a struggle to stay focused when so many things cluttered her mind. She needed to focus, be an apple, focus and roll around like she always had.

Uraraka tugged the collar of her uniform up and wiped some invisible dust off her long skirt. The tight ties around her torso made her remember how to breathe and she looked at the lonely map that they had abandoned in favor of preparing groups for the patrol. Yaoyorozu was informing Jack of it all too, and she found herself a bit lonely in that crowd of people. She assumed there wasn't much information needed to be explained, or maybe she would be told after the actual members of the guild were aware of the plan.

Uraraka sighed tiredly. She was still kind of out of the guild's business, she knew. She knew she was there to only be an extra asset, then she would be gone with the wind. It still struck a sad chord within her to see herself be put to a bit of a side, as if everyone was watching her. They had all the right to do so.

But that was _not_ the plan for today. "Hey, Uraraka!"

She knew that voice very well, it still warmed her heart with that sheer and innate fondness it dripped. She turned around to see Kirishima coming her way, with that contagious smile of his already twisting in her own face. "What's up?"

"Has Yaoyorozu told you about the plan yet?" the brunette thought about it for a second, then shook her head. The plan had to be more complicated than 'we have a plan and will patrol around', so she assumed Yaoyorozu hadn't filled her in yet. Kirishima looked towards Yaoyorozu's way. "Jack's been increasingly busy lately and she needs a bit more filling in than the rest of us."

That seemed to be true. Before Uraraka had left the guild, she had barely talked to Jack. She hadn't seen her much either lately, excepting the tournament and a bit the day before. That girl was increasingly busy and she made a quick reminder to herself to ask later. "Yeah. Haven't seen her around much." she wondered what could be taking up so much of her time, but didn't have enough mental space to think about that.

"She's back for now, so while Yaoyorozu explains all this to her I'll do the same with you. You must be hella confused, roundface." for effect, he tugged at her bulbous skin with a toothly grin. "Still as soft."

Everyone seemed to be validating her presence with that tug of her cheeks and she was going to end up making money out of the apparently cathartic gesture. She rubbed the skin there with a small pout. "You all are getting too used to tugging at my face."

Kirishima completely ignored the comment. She pouted a bit harder. "We're gonna go around the town as close to the walls as possible, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu have figured that judging by their moves, whatever entrance they have must be near the barriers. Should be easy. We'll be covering each other's backs as we go around the town basically covering field other groups did. We will sweep the city easily."

"By the walls? Won't that be too suspicious?"

"The Council's too busy _investigating_ the issue with the colossus. They have the corpse as you said, don't they?" they were probably looking for ways to reuse the golems, or just plain straight scheming something worse than what happened at the tournament— that warning, that scare sent to the people so no one would rebel. Uraraka was still figuring out all loose ties of that corporate mafia. "They will have focused their security at the center of the town, there will probably be lots of instability after a monster like that barged into a secure facility."

That was a possibility, but it still baffled her they were being so blunt about everything. "I see. There are some different environments at the outskirts, right?"

The hunter nodded. "The woods with a few spare houses, the richer hills and the river's port. It's a big area to cover, and the port is gonna be a bit tougher I think. Your group is going to that area with Tokoyami's crew if I remember correctly."

"I thought it would be everyone going around town?"

"Of course, but we will be concentrating more people at the port since it's more crowded. You'll be spread, but still concentrated. It's a bigger area than you think, we've been there and barely entered the big zone with the fleet of boats. Perhaps there could be a clue as to how they export illegal items to other parts of the region."

That was interesting. The only time she had entered the port had been to ask about Midoriya and she had only been to one of the small zones surrounding the river shore. She had seen boats and boxes laying around town, and recalled the sailor's concern with fishing. Bringing a finger to her chin, it occurred to her perhaps talking to him now would prove more useful now that they had a good excuse.

"The Jirou clan could be using the Capital not only as a puppet, but also as an economical support of exportation and goods collecting. It hadn't occurred to me." she let out a low hum of thought. "Glad we were assigned that area. Yaoyorozu told me you'd be going with Bakugou."

"We work pretty well together and we know the forest area best, it's where we've been hunting for food since we took this residence. A place where we aren't supposed to be." Uraraka was visibly shocked by this and before she could ask and express her surprise, Kirishima raised an eyebrow. "Did you think the Council would let the champions stay here after knowing one of his 'spies', that being you, contacted them, who are now suspicious and you're on the loose? It's not good for them that people like us get together after such big accident, since we know more stuff than average people."

For one, they were starting to read her thoughts easily— which was dangerous when she knew lots of dark stuff (above all about their enemy, Aizawa, her master, and _fuck_ it made her feel stressed again). And two, he made it look like she had been the one to step into this collaboration, which was… inaccurate.

Still, Uraraka nodded. "Fair, I guess. Nobody knows we are here?"

"I guess people who see the almighty champions downtown think we are staying in some private inn at the rich neighborhood. Truth is, we only got a bunch of bags of gold and gems as a prize. I'm pretty sure the tournament was organized this year to see how the guilds' power is managing in a regional standard, but not to necessarily prize it."

"Like, to gauge us? Do you think they are surveilling us and reuniting us to have us tidier?"

The redhead nodded. "I'm pretty sure they did that to concentrate all potential dangers to the organization in one place and harm us with the colossus. Like reuniting all ants and crushing them with a shoe." the sorcerer nodded, but grimaced at how heartless it all sounded but what could she expect from such a cruel guild? "It backfired, since you are with us now. They must be tense now that they know we can fight back against those golems, but it's not the same fighting one than two, and above all not when they are _aggressive_ golems and the Council has hordes of them."

She figured that the golems Shinsou and her had seen at the dry forest area outside the barriers were either harmless or artificially crafted as token baskets for that golden chip hunt. The golems they would have to fight from now on didn't fall in that category. "I don't wanna know to what extent this organization is willing to go. Perhaps they know something about the timeline issue as well."

"I doubt they do. They don't seem to be seeking such hard answers to a thing like that, but I think we could be a step closer to achieving power to solve it, or find who is behind that."

Aizawa had created RampAge, and following Bakugou's reasoning that seemed to reign the guild's philosophy, then Aizawa was the man they were looking for. Uraraka didn't really know where that man was now, as time had passed and he would surely know things were shifting and progressing again. He had probably moved to the shadows in either her or Shinsou's proximity. Their mortal enemy could be nearby and strike, but he didn't seem to want to harm anybody directly, either. He was enshrouded in the darkness of this mystery of a personality and aspirations.

For the sake of this curiosity and wanting to unpack those ideas Shinsou seemed to deem absolute and 'bound to happen', she couldn't reveal anything. She would leave eventually to continue her hunt and track, so there was no need to involve herself any further than their common goal to take down the Jirous. Even when she was fond of everyone currently in the room. Especially a certain brazen blonde at the back.

"Let's see what we can do, then." concluded Uraraka. "How will we know if somebody found the entrance?"

"We are supposed to meet at sharp midnight in here. If a group finds the entrance, then they are commanded to go ahead and investigate. This group won't come back to base, so when everyone comes back either at midnight or earlier empty-handed, then they know where to go: to that group's area."

That sounded slow, but the most sensical option to go with. "I should group up with Yaoyorozu and Jack then. I reckon you all have plans of your own." her arms crossed and a thoughtful glance crossing her features, she started walking away. "Thanks for the information, Kirishima!"

"Don't even mention it." responded he. The fond redhead looked at the girl marching between people with a proud smile, surprised at how easy she was getting back into the swing of things. Uraraka had come in as a surprise, forced her out of her tunnel-visioned mission and helped her get back on track, their track, the one that was correct. He didn't want to ask what she had been doing all this time to gain such a capacity of focus and strength, but it wasn't his place to poke doubts in, either.

His moment of peace was interrupted by a rough, calloused hand on his shoulder. "Hey there, Bakugou. All set?"

The blond ignored the question as he usually did. "What were you two talking about?"

"Eh?" following his piercing glare, Kirishima found his leader to be throwing daggers at the charming sorcerer. "Oh. What's up with you two now?"

The other spoke through gritted teeth and a bright glare of irritation. "None of your goddamn business. I wanna make sure she doesn't go around overusing that power she has now."

"Finally admitting she has _that_ power, are we?" again, the leader shot him a murderous glare Kirishima easily shrugged off. Bakugou had less bite than he conveyed in everyday life. He knew he had already acknowledged the girl's abilities but seeing him openly talk about it was a great feat. It must have taken her a lot to hammer that notion into his thick skull, and shed blood as well. "I was just telling her about the plan, relax, dude."

"Don't _dude_ me, Kirishima. It's an important mission and you know that damn well." Bakugou finally tore his eyes from her to look at his subordinate in a condescending frown. "Are all teams assembled? The earlier we go, the better. Don't wanna run into state guards cluttering the streets after the uproar at the tournament."

"I think everyone is. Tokoyami and Midoriya have already parted, and the rest of the teams should do so soon. Since those two teams have to travel the furthest it kinda makes sense for them to leave earlier. Jack's team will make a normal patrol and then join the others to part the river port."

"Got it." as in cue, the latter team started moving towards the big doors of the residence, chatting animatedly to probably forget about the pressure on their shoulders. Seeing her leave, Bakugou's feet moved on his own to her as Uraraka went for the door.

It was almost fucking automatic to go to her as she shifted and, with her, he shifted too. Her hair was shining into the sunshine and her skin was glimmering with health, pale and rosy on the edges. Her new attire hugged her body like that of a valkyrie but her eyes shone like those of a lost, but happy infant. Yet when he grabbed her arm and she turned around, her eyes switched to instant alarm upon seeing him. He didn't know why that was a thing.

"Bakugou?" his hand lingered on her forearm for a bit but after seeing her confusion he slanted it on her shoulder. He was making progress. "What's—?"

"Look after how much power you use, reckless witch. We don't want any guards being attracted by your firecrackers and all that shit." Kirishima whistled in the background at Bakugou's 'soft' attitude towards her. "You're blunt as fuck, y'know."

The girl's eyebrow twitched once, twice, before she tore her arm away from his grasp. Upon his harsh tone, she rose in defense. It was almost automatic after having to fight him for so long, after each of his venomous threats. "I don't need you telling me what to do, I can manage."

"You managing is what scares me, Uraraka." he frowned at her pointedly, his inherent hidden care for her not managing to show through. It was as if all that minimum softer side he should be showing her was stuck in the knot that was forming on his throat and all he could sputter was mean words. "Just be careful with what you do."

Defenses fading when seeing he meant no real trouble, that last sentence made her melt a bit into how his eyes dim a little, and how he looked to a side as if trying to not give this importance but he had _said_ it and that was enough. She wouldn't tease him about it, it was a step in the right direction, and it made her heart threaten to flutter. "Be careful, you too. Your explosions can be pretty loud and you tend to scream during your fights. Good luck controlling that."

He almost bellowed at her when she dared say such stupidity, yet shut up to not prove her right. He scowled hard at the smile that formed in her face and watched her wave at him in farewell. He knew she would be fine, and knew she could defend herself from any mafia melee she encountered— he had a scary amount of faith in her after all they had gone through.

It was still good to wish her luck. When she finally left his side, Bakugou turned to his companion and beckoned at him. "Let's get going, too. We'll get to the woods faster if we exit from the back door." also translating as him not wanting to follow Uraraka's track. He looked back once more when Kirishima was parting to look at Kaminari and Asui, who lunged on a sofa. "Oi! Don't take too long to get out there. We gotta get this done real fast."

The alchemist nodded silently, but Kaminari saluted him in understanding. "Aye, aye, captain!"

"Tch. Fucking moron." mumbled the leader, finally making his way out of the residence with Kirishima by his side who wouldn't can it about his issues with Uraraka.

It was gonna be a pretty long patrol.

* * *

Seagulls flew in the distance a few meters above Uraraka, but one in particular brushed by so fast it knocked Uraraka's hoodie off her head. The brunette pushed it on again with a small pout of frustration, not very keen on being recognized by the crowds while having such infamous reputation. She was still a member of the Purge, after all.

"This place is crowded today." said Midoriya on her side, briefly. His eyes skimmed over the amount of fishermen bellowing in the background and the merry sound of waves rocking against the port's stone shore. The river gleamed under a blaring sun, giving away sparkles of clean waters and a veiled to blue sight of the village that lay at the other side of the bay. Harbored to the shore rocked a few big ships that looked almost piratic, casting shadows over the pavestone.

The river got incredibly wide at this spot, making it a profitable place to fish. However, the Jirou family had probably monopolized this industry and was making the Capital buy the fish instead of employing fishermen, all for the monetary gain. The thing with the rude fisherman that day and the issue with buying fish made sense knowing there was an upper hand controlling absolutely everything.

It wasn't her place to meddle, though. She spoke with a clear voice. "Kirishima told me this could be a place of suspicious export. Should we check inside the ships?"

Yaoyorozu looked around the shoreline before answering. Some guards were passing by, not fishermen but actual state guards. That spoke a lot about how important this part of the business was to the real leader of the state. "I think we'd get in trouble if we even tried to bat an eyelash near them. After the ruckus at the tournament they know something is up."

There was a significant decrease in the number of guards around town, as some were most likely dealing with the prior backlash at home. Naturally there were still bulky swordsmen walking around in circles and throwing glares at suspicious scruffy men— it wasn't comfortable at all. The place was still full of ambient voices and some friendly banter, so the tension wasn't by far as noticeable. The brunette threw some glances at the ships, too guarded to not be rich in information. If they were destined to the actual main headquarters, they would have directions and maps as to where to go.

And judging by how everyone was discreetly looking at them with desire, she wasn't the only one who knew this. Midoriya didn't voice his opinion, regardless. "We could ask the employees around here for some clues on what people they have seen. Midnight could have been here making questions and asking for certain kinds of items. If they are necessary and fundamental, maybe we can find out what she would need them for."

Right, except that Uraraka was sure Midnight wouldn't come personally to such an open space like this, being the criminal she was against all eyes other than the most powerful county, which was the actual Capital. It was painfully ironic how such danger to humankind had total leeway into the government's fleet and just politics. It was all bullshit. However, Midoriya was right thinking that, because maybe some other colleague of hers had come in her stead. Somebody should have seen something, at least one person.

"Let's go around, then." said Tokoyami at the back of the group. "We are already standing out being so close and so evident. If we split up, the guards will notice us less. Other than Uraraka and Midoriya I doubt they recognize any of us."

She would have been flattered to hear that in the past but looking back, the whole Council probably saw her as a criminal on the run, and just a rogue to the rest of the population. Thankfully most fishermen weren't very keen on combat and politcs so such rough but free environment could play in her favor. "I'll go ask in the fishing hut if they have any records for trades and such, King Enji's name can help us make things quick."

After that, everyone decided they'd spread randomly across the shore, so after a few seconds the guild had dissolved to talk to fisherman like talking about the weather, leaving Uraraka alone. Now, interrogatories and the like weren't that hard for her considering that the pressure of the danger and her mission usually overpowered her shyness— but now, in such loose and jovial environment? She didn't know what to ask, because she didn't have many ways to be subtle about such secret mission like looking for the Jirou lair.

If she was loud and evident like she usually was, she'd screw up. However, what she _could_ do was actually get to the ships.

The sorcerer feigned normality by walking a few steps away, then rushing to hide behind a stack of boxes which reeked fish. Her eyes peeped from the stack, looking at the guards march. They were walking in circular motions around the shoreline, making sure to keep their eyes looking everywhere and heavy weapons charged on their hips. The frowned, squinting at the comboy that would most likely immobilize her the moment they saw her and frankly, she _could_ defend herself but she didn't want to make ruckus. She had to be stealthy.

But how did being stealthy work? She could float onto the boats, but somebody would definitely freak out and the guards would see her. She could sneak in, but how?

The other option was that, since she couldn't use land or air, she would have to use water but then again she didn't know how to swim. Water was her only resort left and the only clumsy, sketchy plan she could come up with was floating above it. It would drain the shit out of her but in this situation she couldn't do better. No vines for a path, nothing that could leave an impression on the land or make noise.

Stealthy. Like an apple.

Uraraka started skipping away from the shore to a higher ground full of grass, near a ship. There wasn't much of a gap between the ship and the little cliff, yet it was too big to leap to. She had to dip under the ground's level to not be seen and climb to the back of the ship. Confident in her abilities, Uraraka let herself drop to the water, but activated her zero gravity on time.

Her feet hovered an inch above the tranquil waters, fingertips pressed together. "Don't touch the water, don't touch the water, don't touch the water…" she touched the cliff's wall for a better impulse and started hovering to the ship, where she hooked a hand on a wood plank to float up now. "Don't touch the ship, don't touch the ship, don't touch the ship…"

Repeating that mantra, Uraraka eventually got on the ship's back and landed on her knees, a hand on the ground to support herself, and called her release with a sigh. Used to big entrances met with chaos, this newfound silence upon her appearance was somewhat new and pleasing to her. The door to the inside was open, not expecting visitors so soon. The sorcerer got in rather easily and frankly, if she had been met with resistance she would have just blasted it open.

Bakugou's influence was unquestionable at this point.

Uraraka walked in, looking at her sides with a quirked eyebrow, then looked ahead before closing the door behind her. The cabin was completely devoid of rooms, it was more of an empty shell with some stairs to go up to the main deck. She jumped off the small platform to the floor, careful with the dim light that streamed inside the boat. It was all dark orange, excepting for the blaring light that entered some round windows.

Squinting, the sorcerer saw boxes ahead. Her pace increased as she approached the stack of sacks and hardwood boxes piled one on top of another. There were several labels written in foreign languages and diverse colors for what she supposed to be diverse classifications, and most frighteningly, some had skulls and crosses all over their surface. The mage spared a gulp at the view and wished she had Kirishima around to open it with his strength. She could blast this open as she could with the door but she had to be stealthy.

Uraraka tried to peep an eye through the boxes' several gaps, to no avail. She gave the heavy boxes a small push to see if it would make any noise. She then realized that if this was such a dangerous ship, the contents could also be dangerous and moving them around had been a bit risky. She had to start thinking about what she did before actually doing it, act as shrewd and strategic as she was. "Think, think! Anything, just—"

Her eyes came across an opened box by the main stack, the cover very languidly pushed to a side. There was a rusty crowbar inside, as she discovered, and while she could use it to open the other boxes she feared leaving chips of rust around. Still, other good looking things lay inside the wooden structure, papers, mostly. She took them gingerly and skimmed around the cleanest ones. They seemed to be lists of requests and item orders from, indeed, a subordinate of Midnight. She had read about this man in some spare reports and small investigations from Aizawa. She knew this man.

"Signed as Commander Nezu." read she in a whisper, frowning. She had heard of this individual around the darkest of places, and he was no pushover. He was apparently one of the most intelligent men in this country and had carried out countless bounty huntings and undercover operations in several ally bases. What a coincidence Gunhead never mentioned him when filling her in.

The list included shady orders like powder, iron, a hook of gems (no idea what that meant) and a few boxes of copper and platinum, which was what she figured the boxes contained. There was nothing like bombs or anything as bold listed, yet she figured the powder was made for either rituals that needed it or maybe for explosives. The latter was the most likely candidate. Nothing new or unexpected. She left the lists right where they belonged, but took the maps and some sort of structure layouts that had been scribbled on the paper.

The brunette heard the door swing open and felt her stomach fall through her entire body, whipping her body around, staff summoned and ready to shoot before she saw the drenched and very green shape of her fellow comrade. "Midoriya! You scared the hell out of me!"

"I told you to not come here, Uraraka!" he shook the water off his hair and fanned his clothes to get the wetness off his body. The sorcerer could make a quick work about that but she was focused on other things. "What if they found you?"

"What if they discovered _you_ , the leader of Yuuei?" fired she back. Midoriya was almost flabbergasted at the attitude, yet figured she was focused enough to be a bit stressed. He removed his gloves because they were soaked, and followed her eyes. "Look at this. It seems to be a map, and has a small note attached to it."

She handed the file to him, and the leader didn't even need two seconds to know what that location was. His eyes widened considerably. "It's Orange Forest! It was some weird arrows and commands marked on it, though. As far as I know, that location should be empty, but Hagakure and Bakugou may know more about this."

Midoriya looked at the map some more, and Uraraka, in the meantime, looked at the other papers. They were full of text and seemed old enough to be interesting for _her_ , seeing some drawings she had seen before and what seemed to be an actual letter. She only got to see a few words, but it was enough to kind of hide the letters when Midoriya turned around to look at her.

"Anything interesting?"

Shake of her head. "Not at all."

He squinted at her, but shook his head afterwards, and beckoned at her with a concerned glare at the map. Namedly, at the note. "Look at this."

Uraraka took her eyes to the note. " _Take these layouts to the General…_ Gunhead." spoke she. It was no longer a theory that the government was vesseled, but it was a fact now. Still, a small detail stood out prominently. "How come that this guild refers to Gunhead as _general_ , too?"

"Good question. It makes me believe this about the evil government scheme roots deeper than we thought. He shares titles with the regular civilians and his hidden allies… this is getting more and more complex." Midoriya tucked the papers in his vest, looking around. "Do you think there could be anything else in here?"

Uraraka frowned softly, and darted her chocolate eyes around the ship. It was pretty big from inside, but small compared to other exporting boats. It was clear this shady order was meant to not be very noticed. Still, the insides were mostly empty for now. "It's still early in the day, they must not be finished charging things in here, and I have seen the list."

"What list? You mean the list of orders?" she nodded. "Let me see that."

Uraraka crouched to the box and took the list out. It took her two seconds to realize the rusty crowbar was no longer there, making a chill run down her spine. Every time she saw these anomalies happen, a dreary feeling of despair would echo in her heart, like thorns enshrouding her body. It was so cruel of the world to do that. Still, she handed the papers to him without alluding to the distortion.

Meanwhile, she had the bright idea of looking out from a window, standing on her toes. A ship at the end of the line was starting to set sail, probably already full of items. They didn't have all day to waste in there. "Midoriya, they are starting to let some ships go. They will start loading into this one soon." she let herself flop to her ankles and turned. "We have to— what are you doing?"

He seemed to be making a quick copy of all items in a small leather notebook. "This is important intel! We can reverse-track this and find out where they are hiding!"

Urgency sketched her features as she walked to a window at the front of the cabin, where she could see the port and the guards. They were bringing boxes closer to the ship, making her sweat and grimace in fear. "Be quick!" whispered she, as if the pressure would make her start screaming. "Guards are gonna come soon!"

"I got it all written down!" he dropped the list on the box a bit carelessly, and tugged at her wrist so she'd stop vigilating. "Let's go now and continue helping the others find the entrance. Can you float me to the cliff again?"

Uraraka shook her head. "Being this pressured I doubt I'll hold you steady, and people could notice seeing a guy floating around. It'll be best if you swim again." as they walked out of the cabin, the leader groaned. Uraraka couldn't help but share a smile. "You did it once, won't hurt doing it twice."

"If I get a cold I'm commanding Asui to make you find _all_ my medicines." reprimanded the leader. He opened the door outside and a beam of sunlight shone straight into his eyes. Both warriors grimaced and closed their eyes, squinting at the small cliff by their side. He handed her the leather notebook. "I'll meet you at the stairs to the port in five minutes. If I'm not there, sharks have taken my body and you're to be held responsible for absolutely _everything_."

After that, he jumped, maybe afraid of her biting back. Uraraka walked to the railing and saw him fidget about, then rise to the surface and start swimming away, behind the cliff's side. It dawned on her that she had fairly important documents with her and that if they got soaked and, in this pressure she mentioned, she could wet the papers and ruin everything if her anti-gravity trick didn't work. Her staff was still in her hand, she noted, and Hatsume's explanation about how the summoning worked was suddenly very curious.

She took one of the ties of her corset and rolled it around the documents, then pushed the documents and thin notebook around the staff so they were rolled around the wood of her weapon. The bow was very tight and she prayed it would remain that way, wherever they would go. She called her staff off and it disappeared along with the documents. Again, she'd have to use her hands to do all magic, lest the enemy saw the stolen documents and notebook. It'd be much more comfortable if the documents stayed away from her body if a battle occurred.

Uraraka proceeded and did the same as before, dropping to the waters before rising again as close to the cliff walls as possible in order to not be seen. She succeeded in her mission and climbed the last bit up to not draw unnecessary suspicion, slightly spent after that. She clearly needed to gain some more muscle if they were going to face that dark clan soon. "Damn… I'm getting rusty at this."

She got on her feet and started sprinting down the cliff to meet Midoriya, just as she started hearing a sudden uproar at the port, and loud waves coming from within the ocean. The sorcerer stopped her marching to watch the runaway of the crowd unfold, and screams echo throughout the area, orbs trembling at the big monster that was emerging from within the waves. "Not now!"

A extremely pitched roar rumbled throughout the port and the mage ran quickly down the small path to the pavestone. The monster was almost twice as tall as Uraraka, a massive stingray making its way out of the river with a hunched body, fins shaking with a screech and teeth sharpened enough to bite through an entire tree. When she made it there, the guards were already evacuating the zone with booming commanding voices— yet none of them were attacking the creature.

Still, she could see an ice gem shining on the creature's chest, hidden in grime and some skin. Of course they didn't want them to see or theorize the true nature of this monstrosity, keeping the crowds and civilians silent and blind to the truth was safer than any monster execution. Yaoyorozu and Jack were already facing the creature, which stared at the crowd like a starving man at a three-course meal.

"It's a golem... but it's not human." stated Jack, frowning, a hand pressed on the whip at her wide and another tugging at the purple fabric of her armor. "They are using the properties of the gem to turn that animal into an untamable monster. This is getting out of control."

Jack's words were incredibly sharp. No wonder she was so missed around. Tokoyami had drawn out his sword. His shadow couldn't emerge due to the excess of sunlight, but he could defend whoever he needed to for now. Despite his differences with Uraraka, her profession, and possibly her range by now, the knight turned to her. "Uraraka, how did you get rid of this thing at the tournament?"

Her eyebrow crinkled in confusion. "Hold up, you guys haven't fought none of these yet?" everybody shook their heads in unison. "Goddammit— the one I fought in the tournament, I only had time to inspect it before the royal guards took it from me. I'm guessing you could either remove the gem from it or drain its energy. The vessel is basically consumed by the magic now and is going berserk, and won't stop until the magic is consumed."

"So like, a bomb?" asked Jack.

"Something like that." responded the brunette. "It's just a dead object with life forced into it. Will never end well— above all with such powerful elements like ice."

Yes, some golems or colossus were by nature alive and peaceful, guarding secret and sacred lands, but those made artificially like this were not good news. If the attacks started occurring this frequently, things would start going wrong really fast. It only made her wonder if the government was sending these out to other villages and towns like her own. Uraraka gulped and got into a fighting stance.

"If we get to immobilize it at least, we will have done something right!" she hissed. "I can't use vines here, the pavestone is too strong here! We have to search another way to get rid of this guy!"

Uraraka's first move was to slam her foot on the pavement to make spikes of stone sprout out in the direction of the monster, making cracks surface where they stood with deaf noises of dust being woken. After that, she could only slash the air to push the monster back, but it barely took a step back, just stumbled. She wasn't close enough to manipulate water, nor was she knowledged enough in that matter to do it at short distance.

She gulped. This once, she felt utter blankness and chaos enshroud her brain upon realizing that despite her expertise, she was absolutely clueless about what to do. She glanced up at the monster looking down at her, as if it was only her there, blaming her for its suffering. The monster was convulsing, being attacked by its own aggressive source of life and all she could do was close her eyes, hands trembling, biting her lip and thinking hard.

"Uraraka, snap out of it!" bellowed Tokoyami from behind. "We have to distract it like you said, right?"

"Eh?" her eyes blinked open and she stared at Tokoyami, who seemed to be examining the moves of the beast. "Well, technically—"

"Then let's do that for now! Staying idle won't do anything good for the situation!" when Uraraka looked closer, his eyes were squinted in frustration because in hindsight, nobody could really do much for the situation— they were all close-range fighters and the monster didn't seem willing to get out of the deep waters. In his mind, Uraraka and Jack were the only ones who could do anything.

She could only try to articulate some encouragement, but her companion beat her to it. "You already did this at Pyrox, my faith is in your hands now!"

Jack and Uraraka shared a look and nodded, and ran to the side of the other fast. By looking at the beast in thought she gave Jack leeway to communicate with the others, almost drowned out by the growls of the stingray. "Evacuate everyone for now! We will try to hold it in while the authorities come in to help us out!"

Yaoyorozu nodded and gave Jack an encouraging smile that lifted the mood of the hunter up quickly. Hearing everyone rush away, Uraraka could only think of where the hell Deku was hiding and how they could quicken the waste of the forsaken gem. She came up with a quick solution, encouraged as well by Tokoyami's newfound faith. Uraraka thanked him silently.

She pointed at Jack's whip. "We need to blister the monster and make it spend more energy in curing its injuries. It's either kill it or tire it, there's no other way around it."

When Jack gave her the whip, Uraraka stared at it intently, and started covering it in flames, as many as possible so it wouldn't be affected by the water coating the monster's skin. Meanwhile, she had to think of ways to create a weapon out of basically nothing— she couldn't use plasma under all this sun and humidity, nor use her own body's elements when they were in such a crucial mission like this, because she'd need that later.

She was so deep in thought she failed to realize a spike of ice was coming right at her from the heavens. "Look out!"

Jack slapped the shard into pieces, the whip hissed at the ice melting into water that evaporated in the whip's flames. Uraraka blinked into focus, seeing Jack frown at her sternly. "I'm trying to think of what to use against this bastard without ruining the actual port!"

"My whip's taken a dip of poison this morning from Asui. If we manage to at least cut its skin, it will be a hundred times more effective." Uraraka was already taking off her glove and tucking it inside her cloak. "I think we can work with that."

The monster slapped the pavement to roar at them, making the water topple over the border and the ground shake so both girls stumbled. Still, Uraraka flashed her mate a smile. "Would the Council mind a bit of a wreck here?"

Those words made faith seep into the black-haired's heart. And seeing that mischievous glint emerge in Jack's eyes also made the brunette feel powerful. It was amazing what a sole gesture could do to the mind of a warrior. Reading her, Jack smirked. "Their exportations will suffer some. They can live without powder."

She cracked her knuckles and nodded at Jack, who started running forward in excitement for a combo team fight. "Let's go then!"

The girl slammed a hand on the pavement, making it crack under her palm and shards of stone emerge from the holes. She held them in mid-air with a grimace of pain, not used to holding so much in such a widespread area, but still managed to summon another quick move. "Jack, lower down!"

As the girl lowered her stance, the air right above her head started getting unmeasurably hot, wet and dense, as if the sun was dashing an inch away from her hair before a deaf hit echoed on the chest of the beast, which hissed at the blister embedded on its chest, and right before the stone shards could rain on it, Jack rolled her burning whip around the lower torso of the stingray with a wince.

"Fall down!" she gave it a hard tug and made the colossus stumble and fall back to the water, blistered by the hit of air and Jack's whip, which also touched on some cuts of the golem and made it cry out in pain. If they had been at the sea, the water would have been full of salt and the damage would have been higher, but this would have to do.

Uraraka watched the river beast start getting up, and screamed with a small pant. "Again!"

Another stream of hot, scorching air flew above the hunter before it punched the beast on the side, and Jack knowingly wrapped her whip around the most cut parts of its body, the remains of the fire sinking into the flesh, burning it, and poison slipping into its bloodstream and making it violently convulse in the hold of the whip, which eventually the hunter let loose so it could fall down to the water again.

However, before they could sing hooray and victory, the monster's wounds started closing as the gleam of the gem shone brighter for a second, then dimmed to a darker hue. Uraraka and Jack took steps back into the bay, breathing heavily as all their work disappeared from history and the only clue a fight had taken place was the disruption on the ground they stood on. It was such an ironic metaphor of the current situation.

Uraraka was running out of resources quicker than usual. How could Aizawa have chosen her for such big responsibilities when she couldn't even put herself together for a measly fight in civilian grounds? She was no hero of any sorts, she wasn't some kind of fair warrior, but this was supposed to be easier than this. Both the pressure of the mission at hand and the intimidation at this monstrosity were taking a toll here. Sure, she could use all her power at the tournament because she wasn't needed other than to fight— but this time now… both girls shuddered.

Nonetheless, they didn't have time to even be worried before a grand blue transparent spectre of water shrieked and surfaced in the shape of a dragon, roaring at the colossus and surrounding it with its body before it was enveloped in a bubble of sweet water, and then started screaming in muffled agony when the water started boiling inside the water cupule that ended up boiling the giant stingray to a steamy crisp.

When the girls watched the bubble get close to the ground, they took several steps back, only to watch the thing fade into thin air and drop the creature before them with a loud thud. Jack looked at Uraraka almost accusingly. "Did you—?"

"I didn't!" yelled Uraraka defensively, shooting her hands up. Then frowning in confusion to turn around and search for a criminal.

Jack turned too. "But then who…?"

A few feet away from them, Asui landed on her feet with the same expressionless set of eyes that characterised her, and upon seeing her friends she rushed in, bulbous tongue dangling out. Uraraka's eyes had never sparkled so brightly seeing a dear friend and mentor of hers. "Heard there was trouble at the water. I'm the master in the water."

Jack nodded with a proud smile and patted her head gently. "And out of it. You saved our asses there."

Uraraka also smiled down at her, hands folded at her front and bowing lightly in appreciation. "Really, you did. I hope you can teach me your ways soon, that was amazing! Thank you so much!"

As usual, Asui didn't make much light of the appreciation show, just nodded and padded to the unmoving monster. It had conveniently landed on its back— convenient for Asui to climb up its body and ferociously rip out the sparkling gem, the skin torn apart and making gushing disgusting noises at the loss. The gem itself reacted to the loss of a body with shakes and convulsions, but remained dead afterwards. Its light was still present.

"It's so cold, no matter how warm this monster was." she didn't even clean it, just ducked it inside her pocket. "Where are the authorities to clean the mess?"

Jack crossed her arms. "Not being guards like it's asked of them."

However, Uraraka picked up the sound of steps coming close in the silence of the aftermath, and turned to them with a frown. They had come the exact moment the monster had been defeated. Her frown only got deeper, seeing Gunhead at the front of it all with his arms folded back, calmly. As if all was going as expected. All caution she had put into not being noticed by the Council after her runaway had gone out the window.

Strangely enough Gunhead didn't seem to mind her presence and he _definitely_ had seen her. Something told her he wasn't there for a tea party.

"Good morning, Yuuei warriors." the guards behind him stopped halfway and the leader walked on his own to them, looking at Uraraka more than at the rest. "Seems like you have stumbled with this… inconvenience, haven't you?"

Uraraka sighed. After having discovered the truth behind who Gunhead worked for — not a nation but a _dark_ nation — she didn't know how to act. She was trying to push the hard truth away but it was so very difficult. "I'd call it more than an inconvenience, but we managed." spoke she very clearly, arms folded. "We figured the guards would take care of this, not us."

"The royal guard has been busy managing the aftermath of the tournament's accident." yeah right, sure. "What are you guys doing here, though? Did you... lose anything important around here?"

 _That_ made her shudder because his tone held no implications or accusation but the context and meaning behind it made her feel small and ever so dirty for acting remotely illegally under what was still an authority no matter what the reality was. She exhaled loudly, but Asui spoke before Uraraka could. "We were wandering around and looking for fish to buy before we went home, sir."

Right, interrupted because she spoke too bluntly. Gunhead responded quickly. "Very well. We apologize for our lack of counterattack against this foe. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

His honest and dutiful tone almost made them bend over for him. _Almost_. His next pithy and mechanical words completely threw everyone off the track and left them cold as if a bucket of polar water had fallen down their backs.

"Though, I'd like to have a word with Uraraka." he looked down at her and honestly, at that very moment with an army behind him and the silence that came after that order, it was like looking up at a pagoda while being the size of an ant. It was… terrifyingly intimidating, blood-chilling. "I believe it would be good to have a small testimony from a witness as powerful as her."

Uraraka's back tensed considerably at how she would be exposed, almost naked in front of a crowd of soldiers, but still resisted the pressure. She looked at her sides to seek confirmation from her peers, and nodded in response with a severe frown of compliance, yet peeved and visually suspicious at this decision. "Of course. Lead the way, please."

The general walked to her side and put a hand on her lower back to push her forward, and the sorcerer looked back once more to nod in reassurance. She'd find her way back to them, one way or another. The subject at question, though, was _when_ , and most importantly, _how_.

* * *

"Dude, if you walk any faster you're gonna break a joint or something—"

"Can it for a minute, Kirishima!" Bakugou angrily cut a vine in twain and marched through the forest, mumbling to himself where to go as he walked through the sheer impatience to finally achieve something in this shitty investigation. It had been time since they had had a clue so blatant as this one. It was all a theory. But he was damn sure his peers — very much including Uraraka — were reliable and intelligent.

Kirishima was rudely slapped by one of the slashed vines and he hissed at the small thorns it had. "Chill out a little, will you? There are still wolves around here, and Gunhead may be searching for anything remotely suspicious. We said we were gonna lay low."

"There's a difference between keeping our heads down and digging it straight into the damn soil." barked the leader, digging his soles into the wet mud. "This place is wet as shit."

"And hot, too. Rather uncalled for considering how close to the mountains we are." his friend didn't respond, only let out a ragged sigh as he trudged through the forest. "You think it has to do with that thing?"

"I don't think so. We don't gotta relate anything weird to that shit going on underground, it's just a bit warm and humid." Bakugou's words cut through them, and there was some silence as he pondered the many things that could be going on at the same time without him being unaware of it.

He came to a step up a small hill with a few stones to walk on, and he heard the distant noise of seagulls screeching near the wide river, its waters shimmering under the sunlight. As a minty breeze swept through them, Bakugou turned his head to the endless blue. It looked almost like the sea, given the width it reached at this point in its course, the distant darker blue of buildings at the other end of the bay shadowed by the spring mist. It was almost enchanting, the view.

It seemed as if there was no trouble in the world, and only made it ever so more sickening that there was so much going on without anybody noticing. He'd almost expect things to be tense, the weather to be cloudy or independent scouts to be combing the place— but the world went on being as beautiful as it was, and the thought of somebody coming to wreck it was nauseating. How could somebody want to destroy this husk of a heaven?

People like Gunhead, people like fucking Shinsou. That bastard who had probably tried to drill his sick ideas into the mind of that sorcerer, but Bakugou was certain she wouldn't let herself be swayed that easy— he himself had tried to push her away and burn her soul to the ground with no avail. It was like no tornado could move the fertile, sparkling sapling she was, standing on a meadow like sunflowers in bloom.

She was probably out with his partner and Bakugou very much hoped they wouldn't bond more than what they had. Uraraka was a damn fine (great) warrior and she didn't need mumbling and stuttering business to make her waver. She was no wavering fuckstick. He deemed her to be better than that. Much better than many he knew— and also worse in other ways, than everyone else.

She was just different. Frowning, he mouthed her name in a prayer that she was doing alright, even when knowing she was just fine because it was Uraraka and she always was fucking fine, but—

"Dude, first you wanna burn the forest to a crisp and now you stop? The hell's gotten into you?"

Bakugou gritted his teeth in annoyance and looked back to his peer. "Shut it. I'm watching if there's any kind of disturbance around here."

He made it through that lie so well he was even surprised Kirishima didn't notice it. The boy just nodded and grinned. "Good idea! You never know if there will be a golem around here."

The way Kirishima had already adjusted to the idea of such terrifying creatures roaming around the Capital was disturbing. But he didn't seem to be frightened by the idea of one popping up and that was good. That in mind, Bakugou put a bit more into hearing and feeling around him rather than fighting his way around the forest. "I doubt there'll be anything here. Nobody really comes here and it seems like the golems just wanna scare people and make them scared."

"Don't you think they wanna harm civilians?"

"Nah." Bakugou could remember the day at the tournament clearly, how the golem had seemed more in need to be destroyed more than desiring to destroy. If anything, it attacked to defend itself. "I never saw it go straight to the civilians even though it could have just gone and had them for lunch. Even when Uraraka pulled the night illusion enchantment, that bastard could still see very clearly, and hear the civilians behind him."

There were two beats of silence with Kirishima nodding under his breath and thinking about it, looking around him more carefully. "They are still using human lives for those colossus, regardless. And may use them against us later on as well. I doubt they have that power just for vigilance on the civilians."

Kirishima was loud, usually, and a damn goof, but he wasn't a fool and Bakugou greatly appreciated being able to talk these theories out with somebody as perceptive as him. Only Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami and Uraraka held a candle to that intelect. "I know. That's why we can't let them out of our hands now that we have a lead on what they could be doing. This energy, the one Uraraka mentioned— it's been getting stronger. It fucking pounds into your head sometimes."

"It does, above all near the Council. It's so fucking weird. It doesn't even look like anything is going on right now."

"I know, it's batshit crazy. But we gotta make sure something _is_ happening, other than the obvious damn monsters terrorizing civilians." he walked forward, a bit faster, eager to discover. "We gotta put a stop to whatever is happening. We're not sure if it's as worrisome as the rest theorized but the danger exists regardless."

"Right." Kirishima looked at his companion in silence, then smirked with the teasing already dripping from his following words. "And I guess Uraraka's words were _very_ convincing, weren't they?"

Bakugou literally choked with thin air. "What the absolute _fuck_ is that supposed to mean?"

Kirishima was already used to these outbursts of his and didn't really see the harm in teasing him about the sweet girl. "Everyone was kind of expecting you to spit on her after all that went down after RampAge, y'know. We never thought you'd actually _learn_ something after grieving for her."

"Tch." he frowned. He didn't like where this conversation was headed and they had more important matters to discuss. But he was prideful, too. "I was definitely _not_ grieving"

"Of course you weren't." the leader glared at his peer _hard_ , but the redhead didn't notice, just kept on talking. He was more than accustomed to Bakubarks and there was no harm in taking some lead off the present matter. "I'm glad you two seem to be civil with the other. I didn't wanna have to step between a lovers' quarrel."

The blonde purposefully ignored that last bit, snarling profoundly. "I'm still watching her. I don't know what Shinsou may have drilled into her bland as shit brain, but I'm hoping it's none of what he actually parades to think."

"Uraraka is too smart to let herself be misled by shady people like him." and that was true. She had more wit and intelligence than to be influenced by questionable sources like him. Hell, that man had preached several times to want to wipe this world 'clean and sweep the impurities and mistakes away', all with his fist clenched and a history of chaos and violence behind him. What was there to trust? Surely, Uraraka knew this.

Regardless, "She still sided with him. He probably acted all pure to lure her to his side while they fought side by side, whatever they did during that time is shit we don't know. I can't say I fully trust her, but I'm putting my last bits of faith in her by now."

Kirishima stopped for a second, but Bakugou didn't realize until a few seconds later, when he was steps ahead of him. "Makes me sad thinking she will most probably leave again. After all… we kind of forced her to come. She stayed by her own will but she's not here out of sheer love for us. Her fondness for us— it can't be enough for her to push aside whatever stuff she has to sort out."

Bakugou blinked, confused. "You mean the timeline thing?"

"Yeah." the hunter looked at his hands for a second, then at Bakugou. "She's the only one with full knowledge of what this magic _really_ entails. It ain't like us who only know the basics and facts, I'm sure she's the only one with full abilities and expertise to dig into it. I don't know how to even make a fire with my bare hands, don't get me started with that stuff Uraraka did against RampAge."

Yeah, that had been a badass thing to witness, which alas, ended so tragically. It still sent a chill down Bakugou's spine, to be aware of how powerful she could end up being with proper training and documentation. She was very probably the only one who could bend things in the right direction again— who else would? she could very well be the cause of the matter getting worse — had she messed with time travelling, that is — or be the solution they were looking for. She was a _sorcerer_ , after all, one as stupid as his mother had once been.

And that stupidity could either save the world or end it once and for all. It now depended on what Uraraka decided to do with her power.

Bakugou frowned, shaking his head. The thought was overly complicated. "I doubt Uraraka has enough expertise to know what to do right now, that's why I fear those bastards she's been fighting with. They may have shoveled a fuckton of bullshit in that dreamy brain of hers."

"She seems pretty set on chasing the Jirou clan just as much as we are. So for now, she plays to our advantage." he was about to say something else before he stopped and looked ahead. Bakugou was still looking at him in deep thought, remembering why he didn't like talking about Uraraka with people: she was complicated and he didn't like thinking about the already rooted feelings he had for her. "Is that a manor?"

The other hunter finally looked ahead again and sighed gravelly. "A small and abandoned one, it seems. It must be the politician resort thingy Gunhead used to host kings and queens from other countries. Says a lot about how much the Capital has deteriorated if there's no one there anymore." the big, white and ran down house stood at the outskirts of the woods, lonely and seemingly looking down at the whole city. "There may be something there."

"A passage… in a politic resort?"

"We don't know if other kings knew of this… alliance, or whatever the fuck the Jirous actually have with the Council. It wouldn't surprise me other governments knew of this and approved, thus had a fucking passage in the middle of nowhere. Todoroki's old man doesn't seem to know much." Bakugou's haste was there again, and he stepped furiously through the mud and dust once more. "So many possibilities."

Kirishima was a bit more cautious again and looked around. "No vigilance, no animals even. Could this be a trap?"

"I think this is the only time we're effectively getting under their damn skin. Nobody we asked downtown knew of this house and this qualifies as suspicious. The Council doesn't know if people know of this place." he was almost forcing him to think that because they hadn't made it this far into a possible Jirou lair to have Kirishima getting cold feet and insecurities. "Get your shit together, and let's move forward. No whimpering, no crying."

"Dude, I ain't a crybaby. You seem more nervous than I am."

Bakugou gritted his teeth and, seeing they were getting close to the manor, he took out his battle axe from his back in case there was a surprise comiteé waiting for them. "We're getting close to something good, I already said this." had he? blood was pumping in and out of his head and it was getting hard to keep a straight train of thought. All he knew was that he had to keep Kirishima and the operation safe. "I'm excited, and impatient, and just fucking wanting to take a nap before we go catch them."

"Do you think they know what we are doing?" asked Kirishima, making the leader once again give him a solid glare at him thinking such coherent yet unnerving stuff. "I mean, we are being subtle but I always felt the Council has eyes everywhere."

Bakugou sighed and the redhead couldn't help but sigh as well, because it wasn't in his nature to be this pessimistic or cautious about things that should be clearly safe and bound to succeed— but they weren't playing chess this time, or in a measly fight, where he could be serious and determined to win. This time, he was putting trust into this plan and he couldn't help but be doubtful when so much was in danger, marching into the devil's lair like a stroll down a forest. It had to be more complicated than that.

And Kirishima preferred to be cautious than sorry.

This kind of plan was all too simple for a man who was used to Bakugou's meticulous calculations. He was probably being guided by a collaborative theory and strategy, but it was still all too simple and Kirishima _knew_ something was coming. Nobody would leave an entrance to a laboratory or whatever unguarded. They weren't as stupid to do that.

Unless…

"Hasn't any of us from the guild been there other than to hunt?"

The blonde stopped right at the end of the woods to look ahead at the house, then back at his subordinate. The air was getting misty and clouds would close in soon judging by the grayed horizon and the direction of the wind, but the day was still undoubtedly sparkling and beautiful, and still threw a positive light into the situation, or at least a good outlook into what could happen. Bakugou liked that annoying sunlight that pierced through his eyes and made him have to squint to see the coast clear.

Kirishima, however, was making his mood get darker little by little, which didn't happen often— it usually went the other way around. "What is it now, shittyhairs?"

Oh, that nickname was supposed to be a buried axe by now. Kirishima frowned, looking at the suspiciously unguarded place. It was full of vines around the main doors, handles given up and busted, and the fence was completely rusty. Nobody had been there in a long time, it seemed. Regardless, it was too much of a special place to not be a trap or guarded, so Kirishima spoke his mind.

"Don't you just feel this place is too empty to be an actual passage? Or, rather, isn't it too special to not be guarded or a trap?"

Maybe some other days Bakugou would appreciate this observation and care, but being so close to catching those bastards he wasn't going to hold back. They had to push forward. He could taste the Jirou blood already and he was just a push and shove away. Nobody, not even his best friend, was going to push him back.

In retrospect, most things he had actually done right in his life had been thanks to him, one way or another. Accepting Midoriya's help to create the guild? Kirishima. Trying to make nice with Uraraka after meeting her? Didn't work at first, but eventually did after some talking, and had found out that not only Kirishima was worth asking advice to, but that the world too big to worry about a bunch of people supposedly trying to betray him. It was nice knowing you had a friend to fight the demons for you.

This time, though, he now knew where some of those demons lived and he was pretty damn ready to kill them off. He stepped forward, ignoring Kirishima's concerned eyes. "Tch. We would have already come across with a trap if that was the case, and we already came in knowing there would be nothing. This place is a damn haunted place."

"Bakugou—"

The leader walked a bit faster and straight bursted the rusty gates open with a swift kick to the locks, breaking them and giving view to the desolated gates of the manor. "Shut it for a minute and let's search around here."

As they trudged through the gates, Kirishima smiled with a shake of his head, but the smile was almost forced. He was Bakugou's best friend and his duty was to warn him when he did things wrong and this was clearly one of those instances— yet he had done as much as possible, and it was Bakugou being stubborn as shit and wanting to meet his goals as fast as possible what he was trying to tame.

Very much like him to be as impulsive as possible. If it went wrong though, Kirishima would fight like the strong defense horse he was. He had helped with so much stuff, after all, he would always be there to back him up just like Bakugou had offered him support and training like the admirable leader he was. Their companionship was mutual and subtle, but still beating strong in times like these.

The redhead could still remember how Bakugou had bursted into the guild after his row with Uraraka, right after she had come back to the guild. It had always been so obvious Bakugou was acting like a murderous child with such behavior, covering the sun with a thumb in a way so brazen and obvious, he knew Uraraka was too shiny for the leader to not see the sunlight and realize she had been gone with the blue skies— but she was back, now, after what had seemed like the eternal darkness of the night.

Life had cycles. Kirishima knew that better than anybody, seeing the pair bite each other's tail but never actually catch each other. Bakugou had tried to literally enshroud himself in darkness and gray colors with the power of a human thumb, as if trying to fight the undeniable truth.

The redheaded hunter had also tried to chase a certain pink girl's demons away, her fear for nightmares and visions of sunflowers wilting away under the touch of a crying girl who screamed to a rain that wasn't going home, _yet_.

Bakugou kicked vines away, grunting, and snapped some branches in half. The manor wasn't exquisite or grand, but it was still decorated like a posh man too high up his ass to know 'less was more' and that there were many elegant choices of decor other than weirdly shaped bushes with complex structures. "Fucking hell."

Kirishima chose to keep quiet and search around instead of leaving proof around. Bakugou's meticulous ways were overthrown by excessive impatience and want to finish this off quickly. The redhead walked around a little in search of anything out of place. In the middle of his hunt, the boy ended up walking up to the entrance of the manor. "Do you think this place is locked for real?"

Bakugou finally stopped his bush-beating and trudged to the big double doors, humming to himself as he inspectioned the old entrance. They were covered in thin, dusty vines, overgrown and fertile. The zone was vastly overgrown in general and it rained often, the bushes were weirdly shaped and the walls had plants like claws ripping at the bricks. It wa obvious it'd be hard to see anything anywhere, or trespass those big doors.

"We could blast them open, but it'd be too much of a blatant footprint behind us if the Council hosts people here ever again." Kirishima nodded, glad to see his friend finally recover some part of his common sense. "Yet there could be some big shit behind these. We can't skip this."

"The windows aren't busted and the door…" Kirishima gave it some pushes, to see how sturdy it was despite the passing time. "it's tough as a wall. It's not like the manor has been ransacked or anything, it's just gotten a bit dusty and…"

Bakugou deadpanned. "Old."

"Exactly. But we can't give it the final kick or they'll know we've been here."

And Kirishima was right, unfortunately. Bakugou could raise an eyebrow all he wanted but he ended up sighing and realizing yeah, they couldn't barge in illegally. It wasn't like they hadn't barged in that old residence at the outskirts of the city illegally either, but this time, if there was truly something behind and there was no real guarding as it seemed, the Council would surely come check and see their damage to the doors when trying to get through them. And they didn't have time to come and fix the damage either.

There had to be another way.

"If this is so undamaged and they have these entrances so scattered for strategic purposes, then maybe there's no entrance inside the house." concluded Kirishima with a sigh, giving the hardwood a small pap. "I mean, if they _had_ used these, the doors or windows would be either taken care of or broken, not old and rusty like this."

Bakugou gritted his teeth. He forgot Kirishima was a damn smartass and he was so pushy he was forgetting to also look around him and think straight. Yes, this house couldn't be a possible holder for the passage if it was untouched. There had to be some other place camouflaged as such somewhere in the gardens, or back doors, something. Kirishima and him had gone around the house a few times if he recalled, or passed by it, and if they had seen some clear door slapped on the walls of the manor without vines, he would recall such suspicious thing.

But he didn't.

Therefore, the house wasn't the solution. "There has to be another entrance, then. I refuse to believe there's nothing in a place where politicians used to come so often. This place being empty is bullshit and I'm gonna show everyone that."

He walked away from the entrance to let his subordinate inspection the doors, and the blonde cursed logic biting his ass so badly. If the house wa empty, where would they place a passage to a place so important? Was this supposed to be a fucking joke? It had to be somewhere subtle enough to hide from unsuspecting politicians but also glaring enough to be seen.

It had to be there.

Bakugou walked a bit around the labyrinth of bushes that decorated the sinuous garden, finding nothing of interest at the front of the manor. The place itself sure must have used to be brilliant and splendorous, the greenery giving away a lot of the broken development and mistreatment this garden had suffered. If Uraraka and Asui were there, they'd sure make a good job and make it bright and summery again.

He had to stop thinking about that bubblehead anytime his mind found an excuse to do so. It was getting almost irritating at this point.

In his stupor to rid himself of the haunted image of that damn sorcerer, he eventually lost track of his steps and padded a bit further from the manor than he had expected, to the point he reached a hidden corner at the end of the small, torn down maze. There was a very small, ran down tool shed made of wood with its door hanging open, the hinges of it too consumed by the humidity of the woods to support the structure much longer.

He wondered if there ever was a gardener looking after this garden, and what became of them. Perhaps their ghost haunted the place because of the corruption its owners had bestowed upon this city, and made this haven a misty field for fiends and monsters to live during night. Bakugou was sure the sunlight made everything in this planet look better than what cloudy skies could tell.

Now curious, he opened the door with uncanny care. The small shed was quaint and almost devoid of actual tools, but there were a few spare blankets and weapons lying around. Some of them had suspiciously fresh red stains, a very visible dry trail leading under a blanket Bakugou had considered to be brown until he saw the pastel colors that pigmented the fabric underneath the sheer dry blood.

It was something akin to walking into a crime scene, what he felt, except that he was ages late and he could only wonder, with a shudder, what the hell had happened in there. The hunter walked slowly to the dry blanket with the intention of unfolding it and inspecting it, so he did that. However, upon holding it up and seeing how concentrated and abundant the stains were, he came across another interesting discovery.

The trail of dry blood imprinted on the soil that formed the ground of the shed didn't lead to the blanket itself, but to a trapdoor that lay behind the blanket. He held his breath as if smelling the scent of victory coming from underneath that rotten wooden trapdoor, and opened it with a finger to see a ladder leading to the depths of what seemed to be the very searched for underground facility. The bottom of the ladder was enshrouded in shadows. There was no way to tell where it ended.

The blonde heard steps coming from behind him, and didn't hesitate to not turn around, knowing the crunch of those soles perfectly well. He kept on crouching until Kirishima was behind him, who had followed him when he saw Bakugou was nowhere to be found. "Damn. That's a steep passage."

"And a pretty damn well hidden one." not too far from the manor, and a passage secret enough for politicians with permission and indications to find, but for strangers to never find without said indications through what once used to be a maze. The perfect hiding place. "We gotta jump in and break our skulls or back off and find something else."

There was a beat of silence. "So we're jumping in."

Bakugou gingerly shook the ladder that was strapped neatly to the walls of the downwards passage. The threads were once useful, now a bit weaker to support the warriors' weight, probably. "The ladder's sturdy enough. But if we break our asses, it's fine. Nobody fucking said we had to land in one piece."

"It's a bit too deep, though." murmured Kirishima, peering from behind his leader to glance into the creeping darkness. He could faintly hear wind coming from below. "We can always throw a stone and—"

Bakugou had been quicker this time, and grabbed a chunk of heavy wood from a broken weapon that lay around them to toss it into the hole. Both warriors watched the chunk fall into the darkness, one with a frown and another nervous and itching to hear the collision noise. It took too many seconds for it to crash with the ground, and when it did, it made a distinctive thud.

It was good to know there was at least a _ground_ to land on, or that it was close enough to be heard. "I don't know how deep that is but it has a ground and a ladder."

Before the redhead could stop his leader, the blond was already hopping to the ladder and climbing down. "Hold on a sec! That place is deep as hell and we are in a hill right now! The walls of that ladder could fall down on you!"

Bakugou dismissed that information, yet looked down once more. That energy he head heard Uraraka or somebody talk about— he could _feel_ it. He was only a feet into the passage and the corrupted energy creeped through his veins into his brain, making him feel slightly lightheaded but also fucking nervous about what horror of nature lay underground. He didn't let that anxious tickle show through and shook his head in an attempt to remove some lead from the situation.

"I'll go first just in case we're too big for this shit to hold us both. I'll let out a light from the bottom when I'm there. If I don't, I'm dead and you're to be held accountable for this."

As Bakugou started descending carefully, Kirishima shrieked in horror. "Why is it _my_ fault now that you're so reckless!?" however, when he wanted to berate the hunter for giving him such a thing to think about, the mane of blonde hairs was gone and deep into the passage. That made Kirishima rush to the mouth of the passage and speak to his friend, hoping the walls would amplify his voice. "Don't die on me!"

The gruffy unmistakable voice of the other came from deep below, faint yet hearable. "You fucking wish!"

The ladder was, as Bakugou had guessed, sturdy and hard enough for him to hold onto without fearing he'd crash and die with a pathetic fall like that, yet some steps made a chilling creak noise that he hoped wouldn't fail on Kirishima or whoever from his guild who came searching for them. Honestly, he hoped these passages weren't as complicated and hidden for everybody, or else not many would make it into the hidden lair as he had expected. At least though, the secretive location of these passages showed there was, indeed, something dark hidden under the sparkling, heavenly Capital.

The more secretive, the darker. His descent through the passage turned colder and more unkempt as he went down and on with his thoughts, to the point that when he reached the bottom, he didn't know if he was excited for this to finish and conclude anymore. The serious secretive location and how blood seemed to follow whatever measure the Council took to hide something made it all look like a damn nightmare. Not even the blinding sunlight could cover the blood and echo of the screams that rung inside that rool shed.

As he promised, Bakugou let out a hesitant explosion and saw a shape shift and disappear at the tiny hole that was the mouth of the hole. He didn't know if he wanted anyone to see whatever that waited at the end of this lair, the air was getting thicker and darker, like ice and vines grazing his skin and pulling him in with the promise of corruption and suffering at the end of this.

He looked ahead and saw there was more light ahead, like a big naked room. He couldn't see shit with the raising temperatures and his thoughts wrapping around his heart so tightly, almost disabling him to breathe. Yet, there was no noise other than the approaching steps of Kirishima climbing down the ladder. He guessed there was no confrontation waiting for them at the end of that rocky, dark alleyway.

The redhead jumped to Bakugou's side, and the latter started walking immediately. A mixture of curiosity and slight fear brewed in his crimson, storming eyes, coated in the gleam of the light that waited ahead. Kirishima, seeing the bubbling feelings in his companion's eyes, felt a bit uneasy, more than before if possible. He had felt confident of their success and paranoid, like these feelings that everyone had mentioned were just rumours and utter ultrasensitivity.

But if Bakugou felt it, the man who had his feet rooted to reality and lived being aware of what had come, came and was to come, the danger ahead felt more like a reality and not just a fear anymore.

However, the biggest surprise came when he heard the distinctive mumbling and low chatter coming from the room ahead, where light streamed down from fire that was perched on the walls. Bakugou also heard that mumble clearly and his step grew more hurried. He had never felt so relieved to hear Midoriya in his proximity.

When they reached the round room, they realized that, indeed, the room was big and had several entrances that came from different points in the city, some bigger and others smaller. There was a big one ahead that was enshrouded in darkness, one Bakugou supposed lead to where the madness lay. Water ran around the walls in small streams, cobblestone made the floor of this meeting point. The ceiling had the shape of a cupule, but didn't have a lamp or anything extra elegant. The room was fancier than what nature could create, so somebody had put thought into this and adapted it to be a passageway.

The duo walked to the group of people there, but were noticed before long by them. Midoriya rushed to them with unusual urgency. "Has any of you crossed paths with anybody?"

Kirishima shook his head. "Not at all. But the place we came through clearly showed signs that the passage had been used for not so pure and innocent purposes." he crossed his arms, Midoriya did too, but the hunter squinted a bit and scanned his guildmates that chatted behind Midoriya. "Where's Mina?"

"I sent her and Tokoyami off to look for Uraraka." Bakugou instantly tensed after this, many questions filling his head that were instantly answered by the ever so attentive Midoriya. "It's why I asked if you had been followed or confronted. The port was attacked by a colossus and after Asui, Uraraka and Jack got rid of it, Gunhead took her away. We aren't sure why, but Jack told us it was all too casual and coincidential to not be planned."

Bakugou didn't let himself rest, though. "Jack!" the girl had been already listening in silently, and only turned around to look at him with a knowing gaze. "Where did they take her and what the fuck did you do?"

He meant you as in them but Jack almost felt attacked. "It's as Midoriya explained. This giant stingray came from the river and while our team evacuated the port, Uraraka and I took care of it— well, Asui finished the job, so she's to be commanded for that." Midoriya nodded and let her carry on. "However, they instantly popped up after Asui grabbed the gem and insisted that they needed to talk to Uraraka. I don't know if it's because of whatever deal they have with her as a member of the Purge, but they came in just in time to see the battle finish and take her away."

Midoriya shared a look with Bakugou. "Do you think they staged it to distract us? Or to scare the townspeople?"

"As Jack said, it was all too fucking coincidental to not be staged by them. If they had had interest in stopping the attack, they would have. They wanted to either scare citizens off to make some nasty exchanges with the Jirou clan but stumbled with us, maybe just wanted to give the citizens another warning like at the tournament, or just wanted to dick with us and distract us. I got no fucking idea." Bakugou was almost mumbling to himself at this point, but everyone trusted his theories and listened in, turning to look at him. "Regardless, we should wait for Uraraka to pop up."

Kirishima arched an eyebrow. "How so? We got people who are capable enough."

"She's surely gotten information from the Council if she's been taken there. Shinsou may be a bastard, but he must have taught her the arts of being an assassin and being sneaky, and she ain't stupid. I bet she's probably gathered intel from there and cleaned up the place by now."

A blanket of silence was wrapped around the gang as a question lingered in the air. The only one who didn't fear breaking the mystery was Jack. "For you to have beaten her ass several times, you sure seem to have an awful amount of trust on her now."

Everyone nodded at the same time with a small frown that expressed both surprise and a certain amount of pride no one would have expected at the change that was occurring within Bakugou, who tensed up again (something he did an awful lot when Uraraka was brought up).

However, strangely enough, his first instinct wasn't to start screaming. His mind had somehow made peace with his instincts after so long and his first thought wasn't to kill whoever made those comments. He knew they were right now. His heart was somehow sterilized against the charms and dazzling smile of the enchanting sorcerer.

He had made nice with himself. The fear of somehow not being enough for the situation, for her, for the criminal presence that loomed above them, and although he couldn't make peace with many of his own personal battles, he knew that Uraraka was different.

She was just _weird_ overall. She was this ever-lasting presence that he was now sure that if she dared defy the stars and the gods above, she'd definitely win— just because it was her and she knew that being scathed and beaten over didn't mean she lost. Bakugou saw her as a tsunami peering over the world, a cloud, a storm, her courage overbearing and the only person in that room who could stand up to him and induce a spark of terror in his heart.

Bakugou knew she was different from anyone else he had encountered, and for all he had seen and had yet to discover about her, he wanted to see all of her. He wanted to discover the small parts that formed her heart, the pieces that had been broken and those he could still protect, the patches of scars he had so wrongly inflicted, but ones she wore with pride, and what was hidden beneath the batting of her eyelashes, or what made her smile shine and her voice tingle so good inside his brain. He wanted all of it.

Was it selfish? Yeah.

But he wouldn't scream over somebody pointing out the bond and trust they shared. Albeit silent, it was very present. It was fragile, he knew it was bound to be broken, but he'd treasure it now that he could.

"She hasn't gone through me being a jackass as she puts it for me to now dismiss her and think she'll be dead by now. I bet she's fine."

Kirishima blinked once, then twice, and smiled with a blatant realization that Bakugou was probably rude and unmannered, but he was pretty unspoken about giving merits to others in such a vast public. It was his own roundabout way of expressing his respect for her. But this wasn't flashing news, something had changed in the way he said it. It wasn't rough and hesitant, but decided and maybe dare he say proud.

He was still the same Bakugou. But probably a minimally wiser one.

Todoroki, after a small conversation with a geared up Yaoyorozu, equipped his sword as well and pointed at the big tunnel ahead of them. His knight companion had also gripped her sword hard, feeling the leather under her worn out gauntlet. "We should hurry. The corruption runs deep into that tunnel."

Midoriya was the first one to take a step forward, but everyone saw him falter when he came to stand at the front. His hands were somewhat shaky, and when you saw one of your leaders tremble so much, you could start believing something heavy was coming. "It reeks. It's like some sort of presence is looming at the end of that passage."

Bakugou subtly stepped to his side and took out his battle axe in a swift movement, making the weapon's edge clank against the cobblestone as one of its points hit the ground. The small noise reverberated against the walls in a silent warning nobody took lightly. "Only one damn way to find out. Move your asses before they make us move to run away." his words were clumsy and somewhat disorganized, he was clearly somewhat nervous too.

And _that_ was preoccupating. Kirishima got even more nervous now, seeing that both leaders were facing the same fears as those common members. It was unnerving, terrifying, upsetting, chilling, all kinds of nerve-wrecking feelings brought up in the slow walk that the leaders began. With them, their subordinates naturally followed until the mouth of the tunnel, where Midoriya made a sharp stop.

"Watch your backs. There seems to be no light in there." Todoroki started walking forward and throwing his arm to light up the dark passage before Yaoyorozu silently interrupted him with a pat on the shoulder. The green haired knight explained. "We can't alert anyone of our presence yet. There must be something back there."

Yet all that could be seen was pitch obsidian black, like a starless night or the fear in a child's eyes— black, just black. Absence of light and noise characterized that empty hallway that led to who knows where— but they had to take the chance and take a leap of faith. It was intimidating, deep and stark naked of presences, it felt like the entrance to hell or the doorway to a scarring nightmare.

Everyone took a collective deep breath and began stepping forward, careful to stick together and not separate too much from one another. The tension could be evenly cut with a burning razor, tasted at the back of each warrior's mouths and felt in the weight of their trembling hands. They still kept on walking tall— but they weren't experienced enough to face a clan so strong and go against a powerful town, or even a whole nation. They were just humans, after all.

However, the tension was shattered asunder when the faint but distinctive pat of shoes making their way to them startled their attentive ears. Nervousness started to rise fast, feeling that a powerful villain was getting close, who could it even be? Bakugou was the first one to stop the guild and frown at whoever was trudging ahead. When he swung his weapon forward, everyone took the hint and drew theirs out.

That was, until a familiar flame peeked from within the shadows and threw light to a very known partner. "Geez guys, get those down. Did I make that much noise?"

It took two moments for everyone to breathe, relieved, and keep their weapons down. The leader scowled at her deeply, to which the girl tilted her head. "Fucking shit, what are you doing coming from _there_? Do you wanna get us fucking caught or something?"

Yeah, whatever softness he had somewhat shown had just been thrown out the window. Uraraka puffed her cheeks and put her hands on her hips, almost pouting. "Sorry I was arrested and didn't really stop to think about that!"

While the two barked and growled at the other, Yaoyorozu calmly broke in. "Uraraka, where did you come from?"

That was a good question that made Bakugou back off and wait for an answer, expectant. The sorcerer gave a coherent, curt response. "I found a small passage hidden at a corridor at the Council, near Gunhead's office. It wasn't much more than a small crevice with a hole and a ladder, but it took me here."

Kirishima stepped past Uraraka and peered into the darkness. He could make out a small faint light at the end of the tunnel. "Is there anything else ahead?"

The sorcerer had been thinking about this during her walk there and had a quick answer to that, or at least a theory. "Considering the Council is right above us, there's a big chance the big stuff is back there. I think I saw some other small corridors where I landed, but I'm not sure if they were spare doors to other rooms or what."

Yaoyorozu inspected the girl quickly with the small light that Uraraka had carried with her. "Any injuries? And what did they even arrest you for?"

Uraraka made a grimace that wasn't usual from her. Everyone seemed to be getting nervous in the darkness of that tunnel, only dimly illuminated by the small fire that Uraraka had with her. "They just asked some stuff to get me tense. Asked things they didn't need to know or already knew just to make sure I behaved."

Which wouldn't happen, of course. Had Shinsou been with her and she wouldn't be as uptight as she was now, but bringing him up to her peers wouldn't make the situation any better. They were aware of the suspicious link she had with him and there was no time to get into that any further. Regardless, she should contact him for this new development about the underground facility.

It would be harder now that he was far away, but if what he said about meeting again was as true as he made it seem to be, then they'd be fine. He had probably made his own developments on his own. Their master had taught them to believe in the other, and Uraraka wasn't one to disobey such a powerful man. Or at least, that's the vibe he gave off when he spoke.

Gods, just remembering the ubiquity and darkness he issued during their encounter at the cathedral gave her chills again.

She sighed and tried to reel her mind back into reality. Dwelling in what had to be done later wouldn't help her present matters. "I'd swear the passage had a pretty strong metallic smell. Whatever has been happening here isn't normal or good."

Kirishima perked up at this. "Smell? Bakugou and I saw this too." the blonde nodded. His eyes were zeroed on the small light at the end of the corridor. "And blankets and all kinds of weird stuff."

Midoriya got in the conversation as well. "The port had a… distinctive smell too." his arms were crossed, as if deep in thought. Then, he looked at Uraraka. "Do you still have my notebook?"

The brunette looked back at him, but she articulated no answer, for she was hesitant. She dedicated him a narrowed look before she nodded and rummaged inside her cloak to get the notebook that she had left in one of her inner pockets, all in one second. "There. How did you guys get in?"

Asui answered for the leader. "Midoriya found a cave between some cliffs while swimming back to the bay. There were a few smaller boats when we got there, so people are either going in or coming out from here."

Bakugou didn't know this. They were probably too nervous and impatient to see what was at the end of that corridor, fear paralyzing them like a wasp to its prey. But Bakugou wouldn't let himself be hindered by that feeling. "Let's get going. If people are coming or leaving we could get caught."

Everyone agreed to do this and followed their lead as they travelled through the tunnel. Having Uraraka's light with them made it a bit easier to walk in the silence, but not knowing what lay on the walls around them, or behind them or before them with every step they took was extremely dangerous and unnerving. They walked with the reassurement that if any monster attacked them, they'd be victorious— however, if they were to make too much noise, the clan's henchmen would come, ambush them, and it would be game over for them.

So clearly walking in the dark without knowing where they were going wasn't idea— but it could be much worse. For once, the guild walked in silence towards this threat. It was the first time these people ever made their way into danger without a crease of animosity or cheerfulness. It was a suicide promenade into death.

However, Todoroki realized after a few seconds that the light ahead of them was shinier than they had thought, and gave view to a bigger passage that was thankfully devoid of people. Still, he was feeling tense because no one knew what was behind them, or what was around them, or what waited behind all doors. It was an endless rush of thoughts, what-ifs and pressure that was making blood drain from their faces to their feet, ready to flee or fight if needed.

Aware of the situation, his hands started feeling overly cold, biting, a familiar sensation he had tried to control in the past just to not bring fear to his comrades, one that Yaoyorozu seemed to feel right by his side and stopped with a hand on his forearm. He heard her gulp in the thick silence that enveloped them, and took it as a warning to please _not_ lose control now.

It was her, so he obeyed. He was too careful and meticulous to let his feelings get the best of him and potentially scare and harm his partners. But he knew he wouldn't fear using it no matter the scar he left if anybody he cared for was in danger. And he knew everybody in that room would go to any extent to protect their comrades.

Although, there was one certain person who he knew could go beyond that.

They were suddenly met with the light of a chandelier full of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling, and a bigger room that was again made of cobblestone, yet a darker purplish color. There were three corridors that branched out of there, but one ended with a metallic door and another in a dead end five steps into that branch. The only possibility was the door at the center.

Bakugou was the first one to step towards the door, his eyes set on the hardwood and a hand on the surface. He was looking at it as if threatening to actually blast it open, but this time, he knew better than to break it open. They had Midoriya to break things. "Are you all ready? I'm opening this. Be ready for whatever may be behind this, and step back if you ain't wanna risk your life. If you step in, you're going all in."

His words had a certain edge and sharp end to them, but despite the harshness in them, nobody backed down. Instead, they drew their weapons out and didn't move an inch, just waited like the strong soldiers Bakugou knew them to be. With a small smirk, as if telling the fucker behind the doors to get ready, he pushed the heavy doors open with a loud, chilling creak that cut the tension in half.

The truth was finally coming out.

But nobody in that room was ever ready for what they were about to witness.

The smell was what hit first, a marabunta of senses wafting in the room but the smell was the most prominent of them all. It could be best described as putric, chemical, just unnatural and basically not right. The touch of the wet ground was what made them finally halt their steps, eyes somewhat warned that something horrible was going on in that room where so many bad signs were clashing and pounding blood to everyone's feet and head. The glittering lights at their sides were what made their eyes rise to meet the view—

and god, they wished they hadn't ever put a foot in that place.

Uraraka was almost forced to her knees at the view. Rows and rows of large tubes of glass were hanging from the ceiling by threads and chains, bubbling and burning substances boiling the corpses inside to disfigured shapes and monsters. The liquids had a veil of blood and blue chemicals to them, the bubbles endless, and the corpses floated in the unnatural womb with a torn expression of horror, skin torn apart and curled as their energy was drained away and wasted into the lethal substance.

Midoriya was frozen to the ground, rooted by fear and desperate to give a reaction to this massacre. His nose picked up the distinctive smell of something rotten and, above all, burnt but wet. He knew where the smell was coming from, and it was not the tubes and the bodies that were being assassinated inside them. They had… _spares_. Spare bodies for the gems that they were getting from human life.

And the room excruciatingly cold.

Yaoyorozu's hands trembled, shocked by this discovery and with only a thought in mind that was most likely running through her peers' minds too: get the hell out of there. They _knew_ this was what was most likely happening, they knew what they were getting into— then why was it so hard to see this and accept that a being of the same species as her was doing such atrocity, getting power in exchange of so many human lives? What was the point of all of this?

They had known what they were getting into, yet knowing and _being ready for_ were completely different terms. Fear and trepidation ran up and down their arms like ants chewing at their pale skin, hearts shrunk to a dry husk without a life, as if becoming the same lifeless carcass of a being like those creatures were. The difference between being alive and dead was that the warriors had their skin mostly fine and their eyes were open, but those in the tubes weren't any worse soldiers than the ones still standing.

It was fucking miracle Bakugou was still standing himself because seeing this was incredibly disgusting. His heart fell right through his stomach and twisted it in the most painful way. He had felt this feeling before, having a cold companion of his in his arms that was, right now, at the verge of collapsing mentally as well, he could tell. This was more than what they bargained for. In the worst way possible and the worst scenario possible.

He had never been more overcome with the need to run away, yet they needed to stay and unfold the secret of this place.

Uraraka felt the same thing, except that she had never been struck with this kind of undoubtable and overpowering fear in her life. Intimidation? Yeah, sort of. Fear? Somewhat, sometimes, like any human being. Except that this scene was not human, it was atrocious, horrifying, and just the thought of what had happened before they came in (too late) brought an unfamiliar feeling to her mind, one she didn't know how to cope with.

Unmistakable and drenching, unshakable _fear_ to the unknown.

Todoroki was immediately behind her. "Snap out of it. Now is not the time to get cold feet." he was right. He was absolutely right. She slapped her cheeks a little, attempting to slap the fear away and it usually worked. However, it didn't this time. "Get moving."

The feeling wasn't even wavering inside of her and Uraraka's legs were finding it hard to move. She stole a glance at Kirishima and Asui. They weren't having the best of times, either. Uraraka had always dashed across her problems with a confident face and never really stopped to feel and soak in the environment she was in, so she didn't get that involved or deep into them to feel this afraid of such a foe. It was like nature had made her stop at a dead end to see and listen what being a hero, a warrior was actually about.

She was drenched in a dress of panic and crowned by images of horror and despair clouding her sight and making her almost double over and throw her breakfast out.

Bakugou was too focused on the path ahead to pay attention to the silent commotion coiling in his partners' eyes. The rows of victims went on in a clear pathway towards what seemed to be a vacant desk and shelves. Jirou, behind him, found the voice to articulate a thought. "What… the hell is this?"

It was then when Bakugou remembered a very important fact about the Jirous: that there was one of them in his guild leaking information to them and most likely, they knew they were there. It'd be weird that no one knew of this if he had been attacked with Uraraka at the dungeon so much time ago. He was sure Midoriya knew this too. Still, if the place was empty, they had probably lost track of them in favor of dealing with the mercancies being exported at the port.

That made sense, didn't it?

"Asui." called the knight leader. "Do you know what any of those… _liquids_ are?"

She knew she'd be asked. She was the one at the guild handling the potions and chemistry at the back of battles, she was the great alchemist of the village after all, and a skilled herbalist. However, Asui felt slightly ashamed to admit the truth. "I can't without having a tester of them. It could very well be poison or a serum to make the bodies last fresh in those containers."

Uraraka shakily pointed something out. "There seems to be… vials and stuff on that desk over there."

The mutant nodded and squinted a bit, nodding again afterwards. "Ribbit. I'll go there and check it out. There seems to be no one here."

"It's _too_ quiet." stated Kirishima plainly, looking around. "You sure there's no one here?"

Bakugou turned around to look at two of his counterparts. "Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, go watch the door. We need time to comb this place from head to toe, we ain't going home empty-handed."

The girls nodded and started going out, but before Uraraka could follow, a hand grabbed her wrist tight with a hand's touch that she knew from before, calloused and forceful. She turned her head to him, already questioning whatever he had to say. While the others parted for clues and Asui rushed to the depths of the lab, his voice turned down a notch. "Stop trembling. You aren't one to tremble and this is not the time to do that."

Looking down, she realized he was right. Her left wrist was making his hand shake in a not so subtle fashion that made her feel… strange. She had felt this feeling before, but never to this scale, and it made her somewhat raise her shield. "I'm nervous. This isn't any sort of walk down the forest." she focused a bit and breathed in, and once he saw she was visibly calmer, he let her go. Uraraka instantly rubbed her wrist, either annoyed by his forceful grip or treasuring it. "You just… don't leave proof we've been here. You get uncareful when nervous."

"I ain't _nervous_ , what the hell are you—?"

She shut him up waving a hand to dismiss whatever bullshit he had to say that, as usual, was a meaningless cover. "You know what I mean."

There was a beat of silence, then a nod, and he was turning around to let her go. She looked at the flow of his cape, getting lost in how red it was, like the red of his eyes— so damn beautiful and hypnotizing, making her stomach lurch in a pleasant way when she noticed how she was feeling a bit calmer, but still aware of the impact this place was leaving on her. He always gave her the courage to move forward, either by pushes or punches.

His next words cut through her. "Don't mess this up. I'm counting on you for this." he looked back at her one last time with a sneer. "And don't let them beat your ass. Only I can beat your ass."

And he was probably a jerk most of the time, but those were the words she needed to hear— their bond was unspoken, their mutual respect palpable and existing, but him putting them into words and tell her what she had to hear suddenly made bravery seep into her once more. "No need to tell me." but a smile showed through— a sweet, trustful smile. "But thank you, Bakugou. Thank you."

Uraraka didn't look back after that to see if he had turned around with a reaction to offer— she left it at that. Subtlety was a more fashionable look for Bakugou rather than showing straight shock, and she was fine with their bond being unspoken. It existed and he wasn't fighting it anymore. It was peace and quiet.

After closing the door, she found Yaoyorozu already taking her side of the door. She gave her sword a swing and thrusted it into the cobblestone with a frown of decision. "I hope they don't take too long. This place…" her frown grew deep, staring into the dark depths of the laboratory's main corridor. "it reeks corruption and I feel like throwing up just thinking what has happened in this place before we came."

She was right. It didn't sit well in anyone's stomach that such horrific assassination methods were being carried out under a city so amicable and gentle, and that people were blinded to the truth. Confronting it though… Uraraka didn't wish this to absolutely anyone. "It's horrifying. It clashes so much with the image that the Council has been offering to us all along, and to think Gunhead is behind all of this…" when he had helped her so much in some instances… fate was so cruel. "it's all too hard to believe."

The knight nodded, but raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the Council wants to do this? Or could it be the clan's power pressuring them?"

By the tone she carried, this question had probably been asked before. The answer was still the same for Uraraka despite all her thoughts. "They haven't asked for help, so I can't say they are completely innocent. I don't think they came up with all this by themselves though."

"Yes. The city is rich but… not _this_ rich. And I don't think Gunhead is inherently interested in this kind of alchemy torture methods, or the gems for that matter." Uraraka nodded in agreement. "They must be getting a monetary gain, otherwise I don't really see the point. I get that they use the colossus to scare civilians into peace and to not question authority, but to this point?"

It was all so weird, but true after all. It was a thick, bitter and big pill to swallow. Uraraka had had to digest too many bad things that happened in this world for the last months. She hadn't necessarily gotten better at it and, to be honest, the more she fell for these charades and lies and later confronted them, the more it hurt and the more she wished there was a way to eliminate everything all at one.

The world needed to be freed from this kind of people.

Uraraka sighed and let the subject drop. She guessed they'd talk it out once they had finished combing the zone, so she let her mind wander a little. While doing so her eyes absent-mindedly turned to the doors of the storage room, and Yaoyorozu seemingly turned hers there too. "Do you think there is anything else in there?" asked Uraraka.

"Probably, but it seems to need a key we don't have." too bad. There could be really juicy stuff in there. "I could make one, but I don't know how the gears work in that lock."

Deeming that room to have absolutely nothing, Uraraka turned to the plain dead-end corridor. She squinted a little at how short it was and wondered why they had bothered to build that path if it had no door or no seemingly interesting content there. Regardless, Uraraka arched an eyebrow and took a step in that direction. "Can you hold up the fort for a little?" she asked, barely whispering.

Even if Yaoyorozu had said no, she would have gone regardless, as there was something about that boring, darkish dead end that made her curious. Probably it was because she had always been fixated and interested on the most impossible and tasteless of facts and things in life. Maybe she was stupid, maybe she was smart.

She felt a breeze coming from nearby. Before she knew it, her fingers were touching the wall of the dead end, and suddenly, her arm was yanked and tugged forward, and she was flying through the wall. Literally. The sorcerer rolled and fell clumsily through the hidden door portal and landed in a room hidden to everyone's eyes, but somehow she managed to get in there, as if it had been meant for her to discover— her and only her.

The room was dimly lit as well, a theme of purples, blues and neon greens covering the walls and lights. Her hands felt velvety fabric under her fingertips, and a distinctive smell of ash and lavender. She had been in this place before— or at least, she had known the owner of this room before. She had been in a place like this, been afraid but encouraged in a place like this… she had felt gravel and terror here, there. In a small village with fire in the background and happiness at her reach as she fainted.

The card of the Hanged Man was still in her pocket, and when she realized where she was, she was quick to clutch it between her lithe fingers. "What the…"

The woman at the back of the room turned to her. The mist in the room was wrapped around her body like a second skin, almost clinging to hide her face from Uraraka's curiosity. She could still remember the honey drip that was her voice and the smoothness of those hands as they handed her that dreaded dagger with which she struck a deadly deal. A deal she hadn't forgotten about.

However, judging by the calm aura that those hooded eyes of hers oozed, she didn't seem to care that Uraraka could be seeking vengeance. Incense was sprayed around the room, squeezing the sorcerer's heart into a tight, venomous embrace. It was almost nauseating, how that nasty oracle seemed unfazed and hid in that fog of hazy memories and confused thoughts. Her identity was still hidden beneath that veil of hers, a trait she used to find mysterious. However, as time had passed and her heart had hardened, toughened and turned into steel, she could only see it as a coward's act.

Considering where this woman was and what had happened last time they saw each other, it was obvious now why _that_ had happened. Uraraka could only ask one thing. "What are _you_ doing here?"

She would have never thought she'd see that oracle again, up those steps, one that had almost plunged her into endless slumber and a nightshade of nightmares. But if she ever did, she never thought she'd meet her there, in those conditions. Discovering that she was hiding in one of the Jirou's lairs, many things started making sense. But… why? Was the clan actually watching Uraraka closer than she thought?

Of course Midnight knew of her existence, their fight sure couldn't have faded from her mind. But for them to keep such close eye on her to send an oracle to poison and kill her? That said a lot about what was actually going on.

She had to work for them. It was the only thing that seemed plausible at that point. The oracle was silent, as if waiting for Uraraka to finish figuring out who she was, or just who she worked for and what was and had been her purpose that day. "Who are you!? What are _you_ doing _here_?"

It was now asked to make sure she was right. The oracle jumped from the top of the small steps to the actual ground, facing Uraraka with her hands clasped on her front. "You're actually here. Never thought they'd be right about all this." she seemed to be mumbling to herself, but the brunette heard all of it. She didn't give it much thought. "It's good to see you again. I never thought you and your friends would make it here, Ochako."

Her mind registered those words little by little, her frown deepening as she caught incense was sinking into her skin and somewhat making her feel hazy and molten and stupidly sleepy suddenly. Her training with her master ensured she stood her ground and fought the dizziness away.

Her eyes were wide in realization that as her peers had theorized, the Jirous actually knew what was going on, they knew that Yuuei was there— but why? Why were they letting them see this? Why were they giving them free leeway to step into their mad circus of despair and spilled blood? What was the damn point? Her eyebrows sunk deeper. If they were allowing her and her friends in, that meant something even bigger was coming— or that they were actually letting her come to them, just like everyone was expecting of her lately.

For her to make the pieces fall in place so everything happened exactly as planned.

However, one small detail stood out more than the rest. She threw away all those facts that were far more important to act confused, shocked, but overall fractionally fearful. "My name is _not_ Ochako."

But she knew that name. It resided deep within her dreams and nightmares, that girl trapped between a sword and a hard place. But she decided to not let her cards show and just glared at the oracle for answers.

"Is it, though? With every passing day… you look more like her, and less like you." what was she talking about? Uraraka grimaced in confusion, staring at the oracle in question. "You don't like this place, either. It's as if you were headbutting a wall for answers and were getting increasingly tired of fighting."

That was somewhat true, and it made her feel taken aback. This oracle was… creepily accurate, other than for her name. Seeing the many wrongs in this world sometimes made her wonder why Shinsou's stand was considered so preposterous— it was a world full of corruption and evil-willed people, lands ruled by monsters were virtue was becoming scarce, a timeline fool of dents and growing corruption that she knew would one day consume this whole planet, this whole realm. It made sense that somebody was trying to destroy it, to her. And after living with Shinsou for some time and having heard all of this from such a wise man, she couldn't help but wonder why it was such a rooted philosophy that he was wrong and a crazed man.

She understood him, but that didn't mean she wanted to follow his ways. She didn't want this world to be destroyed, either. For all it had of terror, it had of beauty. It was a rich world, many places to visit and many wonderful unique people to meet in the future, apart from a group of people who could in the future warm up to her again. She saw a future beyond the timeline issue, and thought she could one day grow to fix it like Bakugou's mother had once attempted to with her reckless sacrifice.

But it was getting tiring, keeping her head up and her stride clean and steady. She was human after all and her step faltered sometimes. No matter how often somebody tried to come pick her up, some days it was hard to not get angry and pissed at what she was seeing more and more often. The existence of the lab was the perfect example to illustrate it. If this world was capable of such evil, she sometimes wondered if it was worth keeping around. Her mind was still somewhat programmed to never thinking that— as if it was wrong, sinful, antinatural and completely insane.

But seeing what she was seeing, she couldn't help but feel less and less adamant to be critical of the world around her. She loved this world and didn't want to destroy it, but she sometimes wondered what was the point when encountered with the terror and corruption that crept in the darkness, sleeping like a fierce, powerful demon threatening to swallow the entire realm.

Uraraka stared at the oracle in thought. She was willing to fight that statement if necessary. So she did. "I love this world and all it has to offer. As much as it holds evil within it, it also holds great virtue in it."

"You aren't saying no to what I said, either."

Uraraka ignored that, but frowned at one detail the oracle had mentioned that made her eyes widen even more in shock and silent trepidation. "What does Ochako have to do with this?" the sorcerer's hands tensed as the oracle crossed her hands, and the smaller one could feel magic rush to her fingertips to attack her now that she was defenseless. Yet, right now, getting answers from her mattered more than some petty revenge.

"She has to do with everything. She is everything you are. She also got tired of fighting and… this happened. Everything you see."

This was getting more and more confusing with each passing second. Uraraka was ready to let her real, impatient nature shine and pound the living lights out of that vague talking woman. Instead, her fingers curled into fists and she took a step forward. "What do you mean with that?"

Her voice was quiet. She hadn't meant for it to be so low and whisperish, she looked almost scared of what those words could be hiding underneath the surface of all she knew. But seeing how vague and deep those woman's words were, so sure and confident, surely she had to dive deeper and she couldn't lie: the fear she held right now knowing there was something else beneath her sole reality, something important latched to that girl in her dreams— it was… shocking, terrifying to a whole new level.

"Don't worry. You aren't meant do discover that yet. You aren't ready to go there yet." stated the oracle, starting to walk to Uraraka. The sorcerer found herself unable to move, the woman's words spiralling around her and swirling in front of her eyes like a hypnotizing lasso. What was going on? Uraraka, the Moon Fairy— why couldn't she move? Blood had drained from her feet to her hands, pulsating there to make a decision— fight or die.

Her body had seemingly made a decision for her and rooted itself to the ground as the oracle spoke. Her mind was screaming to fight, to get out of there or just push that woman away— but her body backfired, and the woman inched closer and closer to her before she was whispering in her ear.

It was voice of death itself.

"Let me _show_ you, instead, what all of this is about." her voice was thin like the strings of a cobweb. "The Hive Queen is already waiting for you."

Uraraka's last memory was of herself falling to the cobblestone and meeting the hard ground with a loud sound, and something thick coating her fingers, and a light drizzle meeting her body and soaking her clothes. However, as the oracle looked down at Uraraka, her clothes were dry.

Somehow, if she focused enough, she could feel the rain was coming, as well. It was closer than ever before, and it made her feel dread creep up her veins. The girl… she was nothing but damn trouble, wasn't she?

The oracle left seconds after. But the distant pitter-patter never did, nor the troubling image of a girl with her face down to the earth in the heavy rain of a gray world, blood dripping down her head as she died, but a smile of accomplishment plastered on her face. In that place, the soil was never dry, for it always rained. It wouldn't take much longer for that rain to come to this world, even if the oracle's boss tried to stop it. But the woman had done enough.

It was Uraraka's turn to meet her destiny, now.

* * *

It was raining. Heavily. Ochako wasn't exactly sure what day it was, or how long they had been in that exhaustive hunt for a girl nobody seemed to know, and few cared enough about to go out of their way and find her. In this hunt, the four of them were alone. In that world, a cruel gray world, Ochako could barely remember what the sun was like after being away from home for this long.

She was tired. A little part of her didn't care about the girl anymore, she was barely curious at this point. She wanted to go home. She wanted to hug her parents, cuddle with her sister, forget these political problems existed and that her family was probably looking for her. Ochako knew she was a powerful weapon for her family, for her people, and that when the fight eventually erupted, she would have to step out and fight for those people, people she would defend because they had taken care of her day by day, nourished her and made her bloom like a sunflower in a battlefield.

Ochako wanted everything in this world. She wanted peace, she wanted that girl to find her way home without being subdued by those humans. Only Katsuki was safe for her and he was nowhere near perfect. He was unique, brash and a damn headache, but hell, it made the travelling more bearable.

So when he asked her to get some seeds out of the cave where they were taking shelter, she didn't really think about it much, she just went. Mina was down with a mild fever and Bakugou and Kirishima were looking after her. Since Ochako was the only one who knew what stuff to use to cure her, it made most sense for her to go out in the rain and look for the ingredients.

Except that it was very, very dark and she had no idea where to go to get those herbs. The rain made it hard to walk and she had already tripped a few times, landing on gross, wet mud. Her cheeks were caked in that slimy dirt and she was so tired from walking. The rest had probably been too worried about Mina to notice her almost dozing off just after reaching the cave.

Now, she wanted to fall asleep in the rain. Ochako's feet slipped once more, and with that the few berries she had snatched from bushes also sunk to the puddle. Her hands made a frail attempt to stand up, yet slipped and her body met the mud once more. Her vision was becoming more blurry with exhaustion, rain dotting her eyes. She wiped the mud away from her cheeks, and blinked the rain off her lashes as she looked forward.

A man stood right in front of her, offering her an unwavering hand to stand up. She didn't even think twice and grasped it, receiving a push to stand up again. Her stance wobbled somewhat, but she managed to stand tall despite the tiredness, and upon closer inspection the man looked awfully suspicious, unruly jet black hair and a thick scarf wrapped around his neck. He was clad in leather, but held no weaponry.

That being said, the way he stared at her in silence made Ochako feel she had something to say. So she tried. "Thank you. I've been travelling for a lot of time."

The man merely nodded in acknowledgement, and didn't make any effort to strike a conversation, at least not yet. He was looking at her as if she owed that man some sort of explanation and it was weirding her out. Her heart hammered against her ribcage. She should get away from there. But Ochako wasn't afraid, only nervous, and she could handle herself if that man got aggressive.

She blinked once, twice, and the man finally spoke. "Are you looking for that little girl?"

Ochako's eyes widened like saucers after this statement, to which she nodded eagerly. "Yes! She ran away from our…" Ochako stopped talking to take in the man's appearance. He looked… human. And somebody opposite to her town was bad news. He was looking for the same factionless, confused and overpowered girl that could turn the fates of war, or stop the war itself. And… he didn't look trustworthy.

Looks were deceiving, but it was better to take a step back now that she could.

Noticing how silent she went, he offered an explanation. "I know that girl. I've known her since she was born. A very interesting and talented girl. I was friends with her parents… it was a tragedy, what happened that day." Ochako's mouth fell agape, hands trembling and frown crinkled in worry. He knew that girl? Why was he there, then? Why wasn't he with her?

Her eyes were big in wonder and suspicion. "Why aren't you with her, then? Where is she?" the man only stared at her with an unreadable expression, as if letting her figure out answers to questions that were too complicated for her. "Answer me! We need to take her home to her people! There is going to be a war in my region and she's the only one who can—"

"She doesn't belong there. Not in the land that stole everything from her." deadpanned the unkempt man. The rain kept on falling around them. Heavy, metallic downpour, but not heavy enough for war to begin. "Nobody there ever cared about her. They stole everything from her. She has absolutely no one to fight for but herself."

Ochako was starting to get upset and it was _hard_ to upset her. What was he even talking about? Sure, the rumours about her people kidnapping the girl were around and the humans were claiming that like a fact and attempting to start a war for that. Ochako didn't buy it, and she knew that territorial pretensions were even realer than any kidnapping gimmick they had going around. And she didn't believe her people would do that.

"What are you talking about!?" almost bellowed her, in the middle of the rain. The droplets were clinging to her shirt like a second skin. "Those are only rumours! My people would never kidnap her, and humans are just—"

"I saw it happen."

Ochako's feet froze, her heart stopped beating and her blood stopped running through her veins— but judging by the thread that invaded her soul, it almost felt like blood was pooling inside of her stomach and making it lurch uncomfortably. Her voice was quiet. "What are you saying?"

The man was becoming blended with the environment as the day got darker, wetter and colder. Was it her feeling the weight of the world pushing her down? Was it how his eyes were cold and solid like hell itself? He spoke slowly, as if letting her understand. Why was he telling _her_ this? What did Ochako have to do with all of this?

"The people you _think_ to be yours is not the only culprit. Things went wrong. Wrong deals were made and they messed with the wrong family. When you have clumsy people making deals, mistakes are made. And having two teams going after a same target can make _these_ wars happen." explained the man. "Let's say both did the dirty work, but only one took the prize for it."

The girl's hands turned into fists she anchored to her sides, trying to not get violent. "Are you implying my people killed those girl's parents!?"

The man stayed silent. A thin layer of rain separated them, but it felt like that sole step was a world and a lifetime of distance. He was letting her unravel by herself. Ochako would find answers soon enough.

"There is not only one criminal." he conceded, remaining complicated and not completely incriminating. "They wanted the weapon for themselves. But when it came to claiming it…"

"... my people took her." the man, again, didn't speak. But this once, Ochako took it as a sign of affirmation, which made her irises turn small in alarm. "You're saying… that everyone wanted her parents gone?"

"For them, taking everything away from her was worth it. Lives were spilled in favor of greed and power. Destruction of a family in the name of war." spoke the man, softly, elaborating on the information Ochako was knitting. "Do you think she wants to go back to a place that took everything away? A place where they are making false claims and all there is is destruction? Would she really want to live in a world like that?"

Ochako… understood that feeling, somehow. She wouldn't be able to serve a nation that destroyed her family for the sake of power, either. But that girl was the key to stop the war and, again, Ochako didn't need to know all of this. She didn't want to know any of this— why was he even telling her this story? What could she do with this information? It wouldn't help the situation, and she didn't need insight into politics and personal vendettas.

Her voice turned harder, determined. "We need to find that girl. I don't care who did what, it doesn't matter to me, or to probably anyone." and she felt gross saying this, because it did feel horrible to be serving a nation capable of such crimes— but what else could she do? she had nowhere else to go and they hadn't done anything to her personally, all she could do was help sustain that… questionable home. And move on. "I'm sorry for her. But—"

"Weird it doesn't matter."

His words somewhat cut through her and tied a knot to her throat, unabling her to speak. He had a grave, baritone voice that could probably move mountains if he so desired. And it made Ochako, a powerful girl, feel small and shrink under the weight of that man's words and the meaning they seemed to be dragging behind.

Strangely enough, he continued. This time, though, he started to move. He was walking towards her, and Ochako was so tense and frozen she screwed her eyes shut. It was like a tsunami was coming over her, ready to punish her for having apparently wrong views on things. "It will matter soon enough. Enjoy the days you have left."

Lips pursed, she got ready for some kind of hit or anything that would mark that man's presence in her mind, as if he was to make her remember in a more violent way. However, his footsteps brushed past her, splashing on the mud.

Ochako opened her eyes. The man had walked away into the darkness of the storm.

* * *

Uraraka's body shot out of the bed with a start, panting, and this wasn't new. Everytime those damn visions occurred, she's wake up bathing in a pool of sweat and cold temperatures, stars dotting her sight and the sky above her head, above the ceiling that loomed over her and caged her like a bird between golden bars. She was always alone, trying to squish the feelings out and just remember the details.

Her lips were moving without her consent, repeating one thing like a mantra. "Master, master, it was…"

However, unlike other times, a hand was slanted on her back. She was expecting to wake up alone, like every night, wrapped in silence and no one to talk to her unless Bakugou was restless enough. It was ironic how now that things were getting increasingly complicated, they seemed to be acting kinder towards her— _they_ being Bakugou, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu and Mina who were watching over her form a side of her bed, with Mina sitting closest to her. Her hand was placed on her heaving torso.

"Easy, sis." soothed the archer with a smile. "Bad dream?"

Uraraka's mind finally landed on reality and she let out a long sigh. Her hands were shot out forward, as if trying to reach for something that was getting further and further away from her, and they limped on the duvet after a moment. It was a familiar bed. The bed at her room in the residence. The residence out of the Capital. Away from that torture laboratory. Memories flooded back to her as the blood that had gone to her legs returned to her head.

She couldn't find the will to nod at Mina's question, for she was too confused and dumbfounded to really say what that had all been about. It felt like the puzzle was close to completion, yet still needed crucial pieces to fall in line, queueing for Uraraka to step on and discover the truth. The right choice.

Midoriya deemed her confusion and mild silence to be because she didn't know what had happened. He couldn't be more wrong. "You and Yaoyorozu were guarding and you, uh, fainted." Uraraka's heart stopped, her erratic breathing calming as she tried to process what Midoriya was saying. "We're not exactly sure why, but we found you almost dead, face down—"

Yaoyorozu frowned at the sorcerer. "You gave me a big scare back there. What even happened, Uraraka?"

The brunette placed her hand on her forehead, trying to recall having fainted at all. She hadn't, she was sure of it. Her encounter with that oracle had to be real. In fact, she was sure some incense in that room had sticked to her clothing. Had they found her at the chamber with the oracle? Or had that encounter been a mere mirage?

"Where did you guys find me?"

The female knight explained and by the guilty expression in her face, something was off. "Bakugou called me inside for a second and I thought you had just discovered something and would be back shortly. Mina found you."

Uraraka looked at the archer in question. "Yeah, totally passed out on the ground. Ain't like you to black out so suddenly."

They were starting to bombard her with information that she didn't recall at _all_ and it was lowkey scaring her. Midoriya continued with the interrogatory. "Did you have anything at the Council when you killed them all?"

"I did—" again, her heart squeezed inside her chest painfully, tremorous, and looked up to Midoriya with a kind of hesitant, fearful glance she had seen, done before. "When I _what_?"

Midoriya frowned. "When you were taken there. You remember, right?"

She hadn't heard incorrectly. She had heard that. She had heard Midoriya say it— his voice had been somewhat drowned out and her eyes had gone blurry but— was she alright? What was even happening now? Maybe she had heard incorrectly, she was a bit too gone to listen carefully. Still… that slight distortion around her, that wrinkle, was something she already was familiar with. And it meant something was going on. And she knew who was behind that.

She decided to stick to the topic at hand, cupping her face and rubbing at it tiredly. They had no time for timeline shenanigans and disruptions. "Yeah, right, yes, I do. Gunhead." she tried to harden her grip around reality, and nodded vigorously. "He just gave me a talk on some stuff, I don't remember that much so it mustn't have been that important. I didn't have anything suspicious, though."

"Then it must be exhaustion. You gotta rest tonight." adviced Yaoyorozu, moving to the window. That let Uraraka see Bakugou slouched on a seat, almost as passed out as she reportedly had been. Sleeplessness must be taking its toll on him. "We're parting tomorrow."

Uraraka blinked some of that sleep away. "Parting? Where to?"

Midoriya sat on the bed with Uraraka after taking out a small note of paper. "Asui found this at the laboratory. Hagakure was waiting for us in here when we came back. They've found their lair. It matches the directions listed in this note." Uraraka took the letter and read it attentively. "Apparently they were going to take a batch of those gems to the lair for some regular inspections, and it was signed by Midnight herself."

Yeah, that's what the note said. It was instructing the lab assistant, who had been now reasonably gone back then, to take the batch to a pretty secluded place in Orange Forest. As she continued reading through the details, Mina pointed at a small sketch doodled at the bottom right corner of the page. "There's a seal similar to this imprinted on a slate at the Orange Forest, near the outskirts but still well hidden. Ojiro found it after a storm had cleared the dirt away."

When she finished reading it, Uraraka nodded and handed it to Midoriya. She was glad things were starting to finally kick off and they would dismount that damned organization. Oh, her master would be pleased to know this. With that in mind, Uraraka almost asked if anyone had seen Shinsou— but she didn't want to stir potential suspicion or bring about someone as shady as him. She was her partner in the shadows, but not liked regardless.

"I take it we're leaving tomorrow early then. Did anything happen during the mission that I missed?" she was still tormented thinking that her meeting with the oracle had been no more than a dream, but she _knew_ it had happened no matter what her peers were saying. What was the truth, then? She was so confused.

Until she realized, a beat later, that both could be true. At that time, Uraraka had been too overwhelmed to watch after her powers, and while she could recall being yanked into the secret chamber, she could have accidentally, just maybe—

"There's been… another problem, too."

Uraraka's train of thought haltered right before she could throw herself over a pit of guilt and overthinking. Yaoyorozu crossed her arms with a dark, worried expression Uraraka had never seen on her. It instantly made her worry, too, and gulp at the disappointment and sadness that lurked behind her eyes.

"Jack… she has disappeared." Uraraka's eyes were blown wide. "She's gone. She disappeared while we investigated the laboratory."

Oh no. Even if Bakugou was asleep, she could read what his thoughts about this were. It made a horrific amount of sense, now, that maybe Jack… it couldn't be, could it? Uraraka refused to believe it. Judging by how they were looking at her so sympathetically, they were also hesitant to believe it despite how logical her betrayal could be.

"It _can't_ be."

"It… sadly makes too much sense. But we won't jump into conclusions." his voice was somewhat soothing, but still held a pang of sadness to it. "For now, if what we think is true, she must be at the lair as well. We'll find her there and confront her about this."

Uraraka frowned sadly, and looked behind her friends to see Bakugou was still sleeping. But he was there. Why did he even bother to come? Sure, they were… making progress, but they still had room to grow. She had to talk to him about this. Jack couldn't- she just could not be! It was Jack, the girl who had walked her through town, encouraged her and welcomed her with open arms. A person like her, somebody Uraraka cared so much for... it couldn't be. That stab dangling above her back had to be just a mirage. It made her feel so sad and... disappointed. Like the world was rolling off a cliff and burning to the ground.

For now, all she could do was sigh and hope for the best. "Right."

After a few minutes of talk, some minor planning and warming up to the idea of seeing the mission finally end, the guild parted to their rooms with the exception of Bakugou, who was still dozed off on her armchair as if it was actually comfortable. Knowing that man and how difficult it was for him to get some sleep, he probably found that to be good enough.

Still, his chest was a bare as ever, sword left by the chair — he had probably realized he'd be there for a long time and decided to put his weaponry to a side. Uraraka could feel the cold temperatures threatening to seep through the glass of the big windows, and now that she was conscious and sleepless enough, she could do something about that. Her cloak was lying on the blankets, neatly folded at her feet.

She could either let it rest there or do something with it. And Uraraka wasn't known for being exactly idle.

The sorcerer carefully slid out of her bed. The only noise that could be heard was the slight wind in that cloudy, dark sunset and the crumbling of the sheets as she got out and stepped to the cloak, then to the sleeping barbarian. Upon seeing him so peaceful and quiet, she let herself a secret, full smile, molten for the vulnerability he was showing. It wasn't really _vulnerability_ , but Bakugou was known for having walls thicker than an ocean, and seeing him so… calm, almost tender, yet arms crossed and almost showing toughness through the softness of it all was funny but also… it warmed her heart.

She put the cloak spread around him. It was so wide that even when it was supposed to fit according to her petite frame, it wrapped him almost perfectly. After that, her warm hand pressed to his somewhat cold forehead, and she let herself push his bangs behind a little to press a little kiss to his forehead, wishing him to sleep well— and when she caught herself in that act she blushed, she wasn't used to being this soft and malleable in a world of titans and evil— but she smiled after that, privately proud she got to do that.

She just… wanted to do it. To show him a kind of affection nobody would show to that seemingly monstrous man. She was tender to beasts and even if he would never know this happened, it was enough with her knowing for both of them.

With that thought, Uraraka threw herself to the bed again, finding confort between the cozy blankets and thick duvet, the pillows cushioning a head full of heavy thoughts. Her lids fell close and she found sleep soon— yet it was short lived. While she felt herself drift off, the tides changed.

As if the ceiling had split open, she felt raindrops hit her face, her hands, her body, everywhere. She wasn't on a mattress anymore, but on something that was pooling and shifting under her, cold and slimy. She could smell the storm and petrichor wafting under her nose, like a tease.

Uraraka's eyes flashed open to meet with a clap of thunder, and lighting struck feet behind her. Groaning and confused, she sat up on the mud, cold and abandoned in the middle of this destroyed meadow. Wind blew around her like small tornadoes, making fallen leaves dance and the darkness around her become familiar, almost chaotic. The only light that could be seen was the one that filtered through the heavy clouds kilometres away from her— but in that vast, barren land with nothing but mud and dead trees, the howling wind and the storm prevailed. She didn't prevail.

 _Where was she?_

Through the aggressive breezes, she made out the splatter of blunt steps coming towards her from a side. Looking up, she wasn't surprised to see it was none other than her master, one that was making his presence known both now and in her dreams— but this was no dream. The soil between her slender fingers was too real, and the wind was too fierce.

"What… what am I doing here?" she asked, tremorous. Being in that foreign, destroyed land where no one lived with such a powerful, presenceful man, she felt hesitant to stand up. "Did you come here to take me back? We aren't done with our mission."

Aizawa's voice was rough and hoarse, like always, but held a certain omnipotent ringtone to it. "No. You will end up coming back to me one way or another. I won't force you back. You can't come back yet."

Uraraka should have been glad to hear that. Instead, she felt _terrified_ of what she was there for, then. Assuming he had taken her away from the Capital all the way to wherever they were, what was the reason behind being so forceful right before she finished such important mission? Was there anything more important than that? His presence had always loomed over her when she was alone. She feared he'd come out from any dark corner to snatch her away.

Perhaps, he'd even be as evil and foul to take her away right before Bakugou's eyes. He'd torture him and taunt his past traumas, ones she wanted to help him overcome. Of course, she couldn't fix him— but he'd always have her by his side. Until she had to inevitably go away. Despite how much she loved him— his courage, the way he empowered her, and his bravery. She wanted him. She loved him.

But seeing how her master wanted her for himself, things wouldn't go as she planned. Or not at the ideal pace she wanted. He offered her a hand. "Get up. There's something you have to see."

Uraraka looked at the hand. That unmoving, calloused hand with drops dripping down his fingers. She slanted her hands on the soil and propped herself up without slipping. The man took the hint and started walking forward as she fixed her clothes. Without her cloak, she felt almost naked, her identity exposed— but there was no one to expose herself to in that naked hell, stark of people. And she knew this.

"Where am I?"

The master stopped walking after she asked this. Uraraka did, too. The rain above them was relentless, the pitter patter wasn't letting up anytime soon. It made the land drown in those tears from heaven. Why was the sky crying?

"This is the land you left behind." stated he, plainly. He didn't turn to her, yet Uraraka's suddenly wide eyes were crowned with a confusion she wished she could wash away just looking into her master's eyes. "You did this. You chose this."

Chose? How could this destroyed land be conceived as any kind of choice? It was completely devastated with storms and dead wilderness. The idea of sunshine seemed to have faded from this world ages ago. And _she_ did this? If destruction was a choice how could she have done this? Nothing made any sense. "This… I can't have done this. I don't recall ever destroying something like this— or anything for that matter."

"You never remember, yet you do the same all over again." his tone was almost chiding. "You always play with things this way— and search for the wrong answers. But you always end up leaving your mistakes behind. It's the same story all over again."

Complete radio silence. What was this supposed to mean?

"Master, I—"

"Come with me." he interjected, walking again. Uraraka was too dumbfounded to really ground herself and elaborate what he was saying, all too ambigue, so she followed suit. She was letting herself be carried as his words soaked in. "There's something you should see."

Well, whatever it was she wouldn't understand much likely, so she just let herself be led without any objection. They walked for just a bit longer before they reached some sort of torn down gates. It seemed to be the ruins of a cemetery, gates wide open. It was like hell was opening the cage of souls to devour the land at her back. She had felt like she was in a cage before, yet those open doors didn't feel like release— if anything, they felt like an invitation to be imprisoned in her own mind.

They walked through the gates, too. The path they were walking through was somewhat sturdy and not as destroyed as the rest. It was as if someone had been taking care of it while she was gone. "The pieces will fall in line soon enough. Maybe then, you'll understand."

Still not a clue, but her surroundings were making his words have some sort of weird, ominous emphasis that didn't bode well with her. "I'm… confused, master. What are we doing here?"

Finally, they had seemingly reached their destination. Whatever it was he had to show her, it wasn't that special. They weren't at a especially hidden spot in that graveyard — or what was left of it —, nor did anything seem out of place. Were they visiting the resting place of a loved one of his?

It was still raining.

"There's many people buried here." stated the master. "In this land you left behind, everything was cleansed. All the evil was wiped out of existence with the move of a hand, and all that was left was this land. This is the ending for those people. This is the end of the road."

The… end of the road? What did he mean? Was this _it_? Was this the end of the world or something? It sounded ridiculous. This had to be just a zone destroyed by storms or something. It had to be. She couldn't have done this if this was what he was suggesting. Uraraka wasn't that strong. Again, ridiculous.

Silence hung in the distance and the cemetery as he finally looked at her, more like a stare Uraraka was somehow unable to meet. Why was that glare so difficult to understand? Uraraka didn't have problems reading people's eyes, she had done it with Bakugou countless times. Why did she shrink whenever this man said such things that made her feel almost bad? What did he know _she_ didn't know?

Then, he took out a small flower. A sunflower. He put it on the dirty soil. Unlike all the other graves, this one was significantly simple and quaint. Through the rain, she could barely make out the names and the date, the latter being full of cracks and vines. Yet the name was covered in dirt, which he wiped away slowly to reveal a familiar name.

Uraraka's eyes zeroed on that, and lightning flashed in the distance, in the rain, behind Uraraka as the world crumbled around her, only leaving the remains of that cemetery behind. Water dripped from her hair as she stared, eyes dead and vacant, having Aizawa watch realization unfold.

"Everyone has someone to care about. Everyone has somebody to look after them. You never had no one." he didn't seem to be saying it out of pity, or even addressing her feelings for Bakugou. It was like a fact for her. "After all this time, nobody seems to care about you either."

Her guild… they _did_ care, right? She did want to see them as just a stepping stone but she knew better. They mattered. They were… her family. But after all this time did they still _care_? Did she still _matter_? Was she something more than a sorcerer for them, a powerhouse?

A hand landed on her trembling shoulder. "Someday you'll end up coming to the same land, the same emptiness, all by yourself. It's only a matter of time it happens again."

With that, the master started walking away as Uraraka's head was hunched over, staring with wide, dry eyes at the tomb before her. Death was a weird thing to think about, above all when you're then one with the sythe inches away from your throat. Time was catching up on her. She was running out of time. This had to be a distortion… it couldn't be true.

Her loneliness, it had to be a manipulation. She wasn't alone. Her guildmates had her back, they protected her, this was just a bad day in paradise and tomorrow, everything would be okay. She was more than a sorcerer. She was more than a pawn with feelings to them. She cared for them. She had to matter for them, too. She was no marionette.

But all she could do was fall to her knees and stare at the name engraved on the gravestone, in the land she _left behind_ after a lifetime of mistakes. This was… the end of the road. The result of destruction, a wrong choice, cleansing and mistakes. A dead end. Where _the story was finally and absolutely_ _ **over**_.

A name, like the fingers of the gods pointing at her in shame and blame.

 _Uraraka_.

And rain just kept on falling.

* * *

The day had come.

The four kids found themselves in that fateful meadow. Rain splattered outside in the bleak, gray environment surrounding the orange, cozy home. The little child, no more than 8 years old, no longer existed. Nor did the parents, or the life that made the now empty, dusty house so brilliant. Katsuki had concluded the girl had to be there, so they assumed this was the end of their adventure, and they would be able to go home to stop a war.

"We should investigate around here, we might find something buried in the dirt." advised Mina, looking at the house. "That place looks spooky— and too shiny. It's so dark inside, it seems."

Ochako remembered that man's words from the day before and dipped her head forward in decision. "I'll go in, then. It looks pretty small, shouldn't have any—"

Katsuki grabbed her shoulder before she could take a step forward. "Be careful, you're clumsy as shit and it seems to rain often, here. The house could come down on you with a wrong step."

Kirishima stepped to her side. "Want me to go with?"

"I'll be fine." it was a… personal matter. It felt that way. It probably _was not_ that way but that's how it _felt_. "I'll be fine. Let me be, I just wanna check she's there."

"Ochako can talk her out of anything, she's the sweetest bean ever." smiled Mina, encouraging her. Everyone seemed to be convinced excepting Katsuki, who just didn't trust what the lost kid could do to a stranger after so much time of loneliness. "Let's get to it. She could also be in that toolshed, or she could have seen us and ran away into the woods."

That was unlikely but it was better to not discard choices. With that, they parted ways, with Katsuki worrying over nothing and Ochako readying herself to see the tension that man had put in her unravel. There had to be something else in there other than a scared girl if the man had put so much emphasis on Ochako needing to know so much information. So she sucked it up and walked forward.

The door was already parted open before she got there, and the knob was rusty. For how long had it been raining? She didn't know. It looked, smelled and felt like forever. That place felt off without a family to warm it up. Something felt familiar about the change between rain to nothing as she stepped inside. The place should be warmer. It was cold, lifeless, like the heart of a child without a home and and a planet without a sun.

She closed the door behind her so the wind wouldn't get in the stark household. Ochako found a small candle holder and she lighted it up with some difficulty, the air too humid. The place instantly got a little warmer and she could see mostly everything. Some blueish light was filtering through the windows and washing over the floor, adding to the bleak atmosphere.

But most importantly, there was nobody there.

Ochako almost cursed. She should have known there was nobody in there. She should have known their search would be fruitless and, without more time and knowledge, it was clear they'd have to go home to a land at the verge of war, a land ruled by people capable of killing a child's parents — _this_ child's parents for control. She almost got angry at the prospect of going home, but she had nowhere else to go, and nothing else to fight for.

Now that they had nothing else to do there, Ochako tried to call for that kid a few times, all to no avail. She was only met with silence. She searched a bit around the living room, behind furniture and up in the kid's bedroom, which was completely empty. The offenders had most likely taken everything from her room. Made Ochako feel pity for the kid, a lonely, traumatized kid.

She would have ran away with a chance and a reason, too.

Just when Ochako was about to leave, had foot bumped with a small table and it fell forward, shattering a vase and a small frame's glass with it. The girl put the table back up and shoved the vase's pieces to a side. Instead, she took the frame gently and looked at it: the parents looked happy, smiling to the painting, holding a child to their lap as she—

The frame fell back to the floor and it only took one second for the pieces to fall back at the same time, in unison, in harmony— but in a harmony so utterly terrifying and dire it made a cold shiver run down her spine, slowly, as reality and truth started sinking into her heart, tainting it in disappointment, horror, and shock.

No child had ever ran away. No child had ever disappeared. Because _Ochako_ was the child. The little girl they were looking for, the weapon they had been fighting for all this time.

"I'm— it _can't_ be." but it made so much sense now, why that man had given her so much information about what lay beneath the surface, the lies she had been fed to forget of an assassination she saw so clearly at a young age. Her parents… her _real_ parents. Killed by her protectors. Killed by her **home**.

It was too twisted to be real. The world felt too cold to be real. Her stomach lurched, her brain squeezed hard to get rid of those facts but it was _true_ , wasn't it? Ochako was the lost child. She had been… kidnapped as a weapon. She had never been family for them to start with, she wasn't their family. She was just a weapon. A weapon worth killing for, a weapon worth battling for. She was her. They had found the key to peace… but at what cost?

Her own clan had killed her real parents, kidnapped her as a prize — everything made so much sense now — and the humans were claiming her to be their species… which she was, she was one of them, but they had killed her family home. The world had killed her real family. They had _murdered_ her family in the name of progress.

Ochako's world had flipped upside down in a matter of minutes, and she no longer could have a home. She was devastated. How could she go back and fight for either party when both had killed her family? Humans attempting to not only kill her now plastic family, but also behind said murder. Ochako no longer had a home.

Ochako no longer had anyone to fight for.

"Guys, don't you think she's taking a bit too long?" asked Mina, staring at the house that was becoming increasingly darker as the rain fell stronger on them. They should get in there and take her out, yet if she was striking a deal with the girl, it could be dangerous to interrupt them.

Kirishima nodded and started walking forward. "Yeah. Let's get in. I don't care what they could be doing, we don't have time to waste."

Katsuki frowned as they walked forward, his fingers curled into fists in worry. If Ochako was fine, he knew she'd have been efficient and quick to get all done. Something was terribly wrong if she was taking so long and honest to god he was getting anxious of what could be going on in there. His step got a bit more hurried, and everyone took the hint to match his pace and find out what was happening.

Yet before they could get close to the house, Ochako emerged from it, silent, and closed the door behind her. At this, the group sighed in relief and attempted to run to her— but Mina stopped them with an uncertain frown. "Something's off."

And she was right. Ochako held her hands in fists to her sides now, feeling like she was small again, with a painting on her hands and running to find a crime scene, crimson staining her shoes once more. A destroyed family burnt to the ground by greed. An _empty_ heart. It was over, wasn't it?

Silence enveloped the field, the rain as the orchestra before she spoke again. The tables had turned, and in the middle of the rain, Ochako's plans, feelings and heart had changed.

When she spoke up, it was saddest, weakest murmur she could muster, consumed by the flames of reality.

"You guys…" a tremble, and then, thunder. A sob threatened to emerge as she continued, stale, empty. "killed my parents, _didn't you_?"


	9. Ch äp t er 15

**[A/N]:** Actually, plot twist and all, this chapter was going to be incredibly long—so long in fact, that I decided to chop the contents of the original plan in half and it's two chapters now! This arc was going to finish this chapter but you know :9 I suck. Either way, **I also wanted to give a big thanks to the peeps sending support in the reviews ;; you all are super nice and your words made me super happy, thank you so much!** Please enjoy this chapter, it was pretty entertaining to write! And it has a few pleasing surprises in store :) hehe.

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When dawn had rolled over the hills of the Capital, the guild had already set off away from those doomed lands. Bakugou had expressed his desire to personally barge into Gunhead's office before they parted with the intention of beheading that bastard, but Uraraka and Kirishima had had to remind him that to the eyes of the Council they didn't know anything, and were just going to disappear like a footprint washed away by the sand.

There was no need to make things too complicated. From now on, they were headed to a better overkill than the stupid pawn of a organization that Gunhead was. If they dismantled the bigger part, the general would break down as well and crumble to a pitiful man without leadership. Like Midoriya had said, smart was a better suit than being a brat. Uraraka couldn't agree more in this situation, even when she had her own set of things to discuss with him herself.

But after the last day and how blurry things were, the crippling wave of new information about that part of her mind, that alternate corner within her, her heart was a mess. Everything was an absolute mess. Somebody had let the pieces linger unbroken for two seconds before they were kicked up and destroyed the beautiful, harmonic, almost completed puzzle. The story was complete, but now emotions had to take over and _that_ was a tricky place to go to.

Admittedly Uraraka was never emotionally idle to start with, but even in her most solid, calm times she struggled to keep it cool. There was always _something_ nagging in the back of her mind: what about timelines? what about Bakugou? what about her master? what about her friends, her staying by their side? where was Shinsou?

Could she really afford another burden that big? she didn't know. She wanted to think she could, but it was becoming clearer that she absolutely couldn't when they were headed to defeat an entire dark, illegal clan. She had to stay focused as her mind entered a tunnel phase, running straight for the goal with frightening precision. Her friends would aid her, help her take over that necromancer—the _Hive Queen_. The nickname itself screamed grand challenges in a powerful woman. A wicked one.

Back at the residence, Uraraka had still been packing her things when she found that dreaded book of Aizawa's on her desk, pristine and big as ever. It didn't even have a single speck of dust. She didn't even remember having carried it with her anywhere after the showdown against RampAge, she had deemed it to be destroyed back then. Yet, she took the hint and took it with her, securing it deep within her bag and carrying it away with her.

She pretended to not notice how the bag seemed a thousand tons heavier, and just blamed it on her lack of sleep.

Kirishima had offered her a ride on his horse and somehow the idea didn't sound appealing. Granted he was not _that_ Kirishima that some part of her felt a burning frustration for, but that little girl in her dreams that was somewhat rubbing her feelings on Uraraka, and it was still a serious hassle. When she got on the horse behind him, she felt the complicity between them was gone. To him, nothing had happened—but for her, a _lot_ had happened. Her mind was probably playing tricks on her all along but it was becoming harder and harder to tell if her feelings were induced by her own judgement or Ochako's.

The oracle had said Ochako was _her_. Did she mean it as if Ochako was a figment of her imagination? It had to be, right? Those increasingly clearer dreams had to be just a made up world and sure those negative feelings within her were a consequence of mixing exhaustion and hardcore revelations. It was all becoming so complicated.

Regardless, she let Kirishima take them there, following his short attempts of conversation when he wasn't being given orders from Bakugou on his horse ahead. Sometimes, his face would look… funny, like a grimace as if he knew he had screwed up. Like Ochako's Kirishima had. Maybe he knew the truth and was holding back, or could read in her face that something was wrong. Did anyone share these dreams with her? She felt something deeper ran beneath their nature, but who knew?

So she just went along with the flow and let the redhead take her wherever. This was the first time Uraraka didn't even try to meddle with the way the leaders handled the situation. For now, she had some other things to think about, and this was by no means the most important part of the mission. They could handle it. Nobody would really notice anyway.

So the current situation was: they had some sort of tents set up, Asui was preparing her potions in her caldron as usual, but Kaminari realized along the way that they had forgotten to bring wood when he saw Asui's alchemy set was sort of… dark. "Wait, we didn't bring any wood here?"

Bakugou was lying on a tree's branch (he argued there was a good view of the sky up there and everyone was too tired to argue) and even from up there his grimace was palpable. "Does it look like we can carry a fuckton of wood just for a night? We can cut it ourselves."

Yeah but everyone was tired and half of the members were passed out in their tents. Uraraka and Midoriya were supposed to share tents but Kirishima had fell asleep on her place while he had been discussing stuff with the leader. Tokoyami and Mina were sleeping soundly under the shade of Bakugou's tree, with Iida managing to stay awake by them knowing he was a lifesaver if there was an emergency and he could rush to the nearest village. Yaoyorozu was in her tent, one she was supposed to share with Jack, place taken by Todoroki.

Uraraka was supposed to wait for Sero to come to their current base and guide them to the Jirou lair the day after. The problem is, they had little to no light and everyone had been too tired to realize this sooner. Bakugou was acting somewhat ruder than usual and that was a lot to say when he was just a crude bastard in general. Lurking up the vines wasn't his style, above all in crucial times like these.

The sorcerer was so tempted to ask. But he'd probably bark at her to leave in his state of exhaustion. At this point, considering she hadn't been paying attention to anything else other than herself during their travel out of the Capital, she was probably the one with the most energy left. She could either use it to ask him what was wrong (something she should do with everyone, yet her feelings somewhat told her there was something else with _him_ specially) or go cut down some trees.

Iida quickly sprung up but even then he looked tired as hell. "I shall go do that. You guys look exhausted."

Exhausted was a light term for their current state. Uraraka rarely saw them this beaten up and at times like these she remembered they truly did shine in the battlefield, yet probably sunk down at dusk. They brimmed with sparks and energy for a while before sinking down and needing some rest. The mental pressure and long travelling had had to merm their spirits, above all for the sleeping and sulking leaders.

The brunette's head sprung up at the mention. She had been sitting under a tree across from Bakugou's practicing cura making with some spare leaves and berries that Asui had brought with her. The alchemist had recommended her to spend her leftover energy on something useful in a way so uncommonly stern Uraraka was actually frightened by how everyone's attitude could change when their minds were so numb. It left little room for imagination about how terrible Bakugou would be.

The sorcerer got on her feet with a long sigh. "It's fine, Iida. I'll go get it myself, but I need an axe." while Uraraka wiped some dirt off her dress, Iida was already fixing to complain or disagree. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I could use the distraction before we go against them and before it goes completely dark. Besides, Asui needs the fire."

Kaminari pointed at her now naked hands, stepping to her with an eyebrow arched. Her gloves had been forgotten behind her. "You could help her with that."

At this, Uraraka curled her fingers into fists. Being praised (in her mind) for her ability controlling fire didn't exactly make her feel comfortable after what had happened. "Yeah, but I can't give a lasting support for the fire without burning my hands off, y'know."

Asui interjected from behind, stirring a wooden spoon in her small cauldron. It was barely half her size, just the appropriate size to be carried easily, enough to create some potions. "I'm going to need fire in a little. I don't need it for much, though, so some logs should be enough."

The blonde guy nodded and turned to the tree where he knew Bakugou was perched. "Yo, can we borrow your axe? We gotta go get some wood."

There was a faint, but gruff voice coming from up there. "Nobody touches my fucking weapons. Tell Uraraka to cut them down with her own bare hands." which she could do by using magic, but him implying that was unlikely. "Besides I need my axe nice and sharp to heads roll tomorrow."

The boy's shoulders dropped inch by inch until he sighed audibly at his leader's stubbornness. Were Midoriya or Kirishima awake and either one of them would have convinced Bakugou to stop being an asshole, but again, exhaustion was getting the best of everyone that night. Upon seeing the blonde's defeated expression, too tired to banter with the brazen barbarian, she frowned and walked to the very same tree where Bakugou rested, and took his axe from Tokoyami's side.

There was an offended grunt from above her and dangerous rustling of leaves. "I'll polish the edges when I'm back. Kaminari, could you finish the potions I was mixing for Asui? You're probably more experienced than I-"

"I know nothing about potion-making, Uraraka."

There was an almost dark chuckle coming from the cauldron. "That's fine, ribbit. I'll teach you." Kaminari spun to look at the exhausted alchemist, teeth gritted in annoyance because taking a nap was much more appropriate than taking alchemy classes. "Don't pull that face. If Uraraka got to learn, you should be able to as well."

Uraraka glanced back once more to hear Kaminari let out a not so subtle groan and saunter to his peer's side, making the sorcerer giggle slightly. He could use the extra lessons—in fact anybody could. She had used them herself during her runaway rush to the Capital with Shinsou and it had been a lifesaver at times. Her male sorcerer companion had also taken notes when he saw Uraraka brew quick, chaste yet useful small potions.

What had become of that man? Was he alright? She had to find him quickly once the Jirous were history, or maybe he'd be there once her guild arrived to the lair. Uraraka quickly got rid of those thoughts, shaking her head and realizing that she was somewhat wobbling her way deep into the forest as the axe chained her down to the earth. It was ungodly heavy, that thing—how did Bakugou manage to carry it around (and swing it) so easily?

Uraraka tried to put it on her right shoulder and it almost ended with her falling backwards, so that wouldn't do either. She ended up carrying it in her arms like some kind of child, and only then it occurred to her she could make it float as she walked. Still prideful and wanting to do it without the help of her powers, she summoned her leftover strength and attempted to carry it further without tripping with her own feet and not staggering too much.

She could do it.

"I can't do this…" she mumbled, hissing a bit as the weight of the axe weighed her down. It wasn't that much of a big battling axe compared to the terrifying stuff she had seen barbarians wield during her grand voyage—god, those were horrible. Bakugou was already frightening on his own, she couldn't imagine him with one of those things. This one was fairly mild for what she knew her leader could manage.

Uraraka was strong. She had some muscle after doing so much staff swinging and arm maneuvering. It was nothing compared to the beef arms her male companions had —Bakugou mostly —but she could do this. She was tired, but she just had to find a tree and cut it down. It shouldn't be that hard to at least get to her destination.

She was surrounded by trees but not _any_ tree would suffice. Uraraka was aware that forests weren't made to be cut down by some self-seeking humans, so she needed to find a tree that was decaying and wouldn't be of use to any animals. Asui didn't need much wood anyway, just a few logs. It could be just a very small tree. She didn't want to waste a tree's life and only cut a pair of logs out of a giant sappling.

Uraraka only needed some wood. It wasn't that hard to ask for. She hoped it wouldn't be the same damn irony as being thirsty near the ocean, because she was too tired to deal with this. She could still hear Kaminari and Asui bickering—she wasn't too far away. There had to be a tree she could cut down. Just one, at least.

One minute later, the girl padded to a tree that was looking kind of dry, and didn't seem to have any animal living inside upon closer inspection. It was a few meters taller than her (hat included), but considering trees in that specific area were remarkably tall, she'd make do with this one.

Now, how to cut it.

She set the axe's head on the ground and supported herself with the handle of the weapon, looking at the tree like a big enigma. She had figured out which tree to cut, yet felt nervous about doing the chop chop. She had taken down enemies far more ferocious than this defenseless tree and that was maybe why she felt so confused. Nobody was telling her how to do this and her instincts weren't helping either.

She wasn't cut for the job. No pun intended.

"What the hell are you staring at?"

The sorcerer jumped in her spot at the gruffy voice that was managing to chase her anywhere she went. Uraraka turned around swiftly, prompting the axe to fall and the leader to, again, let out a grunt of displeasure at that airheaded attitude of hers. "What are you doing here?" shrieked she, surprised by his sudden appearance. "I thought you were too high up your ass to come help out."

Bakugou had been leaning on a tree a few feet away until he stepped towards her and, in his way to pick the axe up, he gave her a strong hit on the head. "Careful with the sass, Uraraka. You don't fucking learn, do you?"

Uraraka looked at him over her shoulder with a self-assuring smile. "If I had learned my lesson, I wouldn't be where I am now."

Bakugou could ask many things now and act clueless, but he wasn't in the mood to mess around right now. Instead, he smiled to himself, picking the axe up and examining it. "I guess you're right." after that, he looked at the small, thin tree she had planned on cutting. "Is this the best you can do? Don't tell me this is all you can do."

"I'm not a professional, you know. I'd use my magic but I'm trying to save that stamina for tomorrow. Don't wanna waste my energy on something like this."

Bakugou looked at her with an annoyed set of squinted eyes, teeth gritted in his characteristic grimace of disdain. "And I thought that magic of yours could be of use."

Uraraka tried her best to mirror his expression. "And I thought you were starting to be nice. What is it now?" turning to him as he now inspected the tree, she crossed her arms. "Can't you cut that little tree down? Are those arms only gum?"

There was a breeze of silence in which there was only a challenge between them, the anger in his voice replaced with some kind of arrogant cockyness that was so _him_ and familiar to her she found herself drawn to whatever he was up to at the moment. He had that ability to draw her in like a moth to a flame. She almost always ended up burning herself but… that was merely a side-effect.

Taken over by his pride, Bakugou swung the axe with an ease she wished she had. She was so powerful yet so weak at the same time, at least compared to him. Again, she had some muscle, but that was nothing compared to the massive arms he had. And she definitely couldn't handle a weapon so big that at times she was sure he could only _barely_ handle.

So she just waited for him to get cocky and do something about it, for a change. They glared at the other without malice, but it was for once _him_ who broke the eyelock. "Tsk. You're a fucking handful."

And he swung the axe towards the thin tree with a might she had sure not seen before —or never stopped and stared at, because he only did this stuff at battles and while this wasn't a battle he sure made every issue in his life seem like one. The result was a dent on the bark that was deep enough for her to introduce her whole palm in, but still far from enough to bring the tree down.

Uraraka had a complaint. "Don't act all cocky and mighty—the tree's dry as hell. I could have done-"

Bakugou let out an unsightly growl of power and slammed the axe into the dent, making a deeper mark, but before Uraraka could rile him up further he was ramming his weapon into the poor tree over and over, his growls growing in volume until he was wishing the tree a very ungraceful death for probably putting him in a bad spot before Uraraka's eyes. His pace never decreased and the girl watched the spectacle with an amused expression.

Before long, the tree was struggling to stand, and that was when Bakugou stopped. The hunter let out a blow of air in what could be a pant, letting out remaining adrenaline. Then, he shot a perverse shit-eating grin at her, wiping a single bead of sweat off his jaw. "Your turn." he saw her blink in surprise. "If you thought I was gonna finish the job for you, think again. Use your little dainty terrorist hands for something more humble than blowing corpses up, will you?"

"Your mistake for thinking I was going to even let you finish off the job. You're such a brute you'd have ended up destroying the entire forest." Bakugou drove the axe into the soil and watched her step forward, seething at the proud air she carried with her. It wasn't a necessarily bad one, as he appreciated her being this competitive and he wanted to keep those moments well and alive—but she was so irritating sometimes.

"Beats me. Just fucking get the thing down."

Uraraka shook her head before positioning herself behind the tree and at the opposite side of Bakugou's dent, and made a similar one just some centimeters higher than his had been, sending slices of air into the tree and making several dents that dug into the bark deeper and deeper with each motion of her arms. However, in the background, Bakugou seemed displeased.

"Is that all you can-"

"Don't you _dare_!"

In a similar fashion that what Bakugou had done before, Uraraka's arms started flopping out of control as she sent dashes of air thanks to the breezes between trees and making dent after dent into the bark, making disgruntled noises of impatience as she tore her way through the tree and, eventually, a crunch, tearing noise was heard and the tree stumbled in place.

Bakugou took a step aside only a second before the tree fell in his direction, making a deaf echoing noise that made the few animals left run away and the blades of grass shake at its wake. He inspected her work and noticed the uneven cut of her craft, unlike his which was polished despite how brash he had been.

"Can't believe you were calling me a brute earlier. It's just a shitty tree, Uraraka." he gave the tree a small roll with his feet and took his axe back again. "You were too harsh."

The girl crossed her arms with a huff of annoyance, yet her expression remained innocent. "And you're too rude!"

"Whatever. I'll just cut these and get the job over with." he said, and swung his axe back in such a way that made her breath hitch. Uraraka had never really noticed but since when had Bakugou been… like _that_? He was tall and his muscular frame went without saying, but in such rough tasks like that his figure looked overly masculine. It was so, so weird to see him in such a light.

He was an intelligent, focused man—but seeing him being so fixated on seeing it done gave him a tender, almost calm hint to his movements, to his brazen, squinted eyes that were probably cursing the log's sturdiness and Asui's profession for needing wood, but he wasn't complaining like he would have before. Uraraka knew he would have never cooperated in the past—hell, he wouldn't do much more than protecting them in the battlefield, but daily tasks like these? Dream on.

Her heart warmed up for things that should go without saying, yet she couldn't complain. He was making progress and the sole fact that they had this kind of camaraderie made her feel safe and very much proud of how he was evolving and developing thanks to the help of his peers and discovering the wonders of the world. No one had decided to change him but himself.

No one could help him sort out his angry façade but himself.

But then she realized, again, that she couldn't stick to these feelings. Uraraka felt stupid for daydreaming about him again and in front of him, no less. She slapped her cheeks with a bashful expression, and looked anywhere but at _him_ , the object of her affections. It felt like she was behaving rather dodgy and quite frankly, even she knew she was somehow trying not to stay alone with him for too long because of _this_ : the daydreaming, the weird fuzzy feeling in her stomach and how she overthought all that was him, curious and proud.

She was overcome with the want to run away. She had better things to think about and none of those were Bakugou. "Um…" she started, stammering a little. Bakugou didn't seem to be paying attention to her. "I'm gonna try to find Asui some herbs she can work with. I'll come back in a little bit."

Her voice was so pitched and nervous even Bakugou knew something was not right. He finished his swinging to look at her with an arched eyebrow. "Oi, what the-"

She instantly jumped a few steps away, looking for a path to take. "I'll be right back! I just wanna look for some berries and leaves and all that! Don't get too tired." she somehow managed to keep herself down and not too jumpy, which seemed to appease him as he took the axe again and resumed his posture from before. "I was hoping you'd have it done by now, you are getting slow."

Her voice was quivering and she _knew_ it but before he could say anything about that she flew away into the forest. She ran like a squirrel jumped from tree to tree while the panther gave chase under at ground level. She leaped across fallen, mossy empty logs and splashed her boots on mud. The dark, lonely atmosphere made her go way back to her confusing beginnings.

There were no other stepping noises other than hers in the forest, so she knew she was alone for now and let out a relieved sigh. It wasn't that she didn't like his company —oh she totally _did_ —but it was best for both of them to not indulge into the feeling. He was too intoxicating with his words, confusing, and too hypnotizing with his acts. It wasn't destined to end well.

Uraraka basked for a moment in her appeased heartbeat and her normalized breathing, and carried on walking deeper into the forest.

Her main focus was to find berries but she couldn't exactly concentrate on that since her mind was cluttered with his presence. The sorcerer was working hard to push him out of her mind, but considering he slipped into her heart in a very mean, sneaky and intense way, he wouldn't be easy to get rid of. He was almost like a stain. A very abrasive, brazen and spicy stain.

She was getting better at telling herself that such silly crush —it was more than that but it took time to hammer that into her mind —and realizing that she had a bigger task to accomplish and silly love stories weren't in her book _yet_ a part of her wanted to give in, to see what he hid behind that shield of his and marvel in the flames of his heart.

But it wasn't that easy. Nor she or he were that easy. And Uraraka had duties that at the end of the day always outweighed the silly desires of her ironclad heart. She could move on from this after tomorrow. In theory, she was supposed to be able to flee the day after but would it hurt to stay a bit more?

Yes. She knew the answer was _yes_. She would be fooling and leading them all on, as if she would stay forever. Dragging that time beyond necessity was absurd and would hurt more than heal on the long run. Her mind was set on making things right with the world. She was bound to do great things and carry her wishes to whatever destiny waited for her.

Uraraka would endure it.

But at times, deep into the night, she wondered if he… felt anything for her. Their relationship had grown considerably since last time they fought blade to blade —or magic —and, honestly? She wanted to believe the special place he had in her heart existed in his, as well, exclusive for her. She deceived herself, daydreaming about what it would be like if he ever corresponded her doomed feelings.

She knew he had no space for love in that armor of his, so full of corpses and traumas she had long ago lost count of—and even if he did feel for her, it wouldn't work. At times, she wondered if he had an answer to her problem, if he _knew_ any way to make it work, and she became hopeful because after all hadn't he been covering her back all along? Maybe he did have a solution to fix this and find a way to be together.

Perhaps the situation was better. Perhaps not. Regardless, she knew better than to be deceived by her own foolish hope and slapped her cheeks again for some grounding. She continued walking until she felt a stronger, damp breeze coming from between trees.

Ah, that natural tune. She wished she had a flute with her to lull the fireflies out to dance along to the tranquil, silent yet peaceful night. Her hand grabbed her hat to hold it in place as her eyes snapped to a gap between trees that seemed to look out into the sky and the sea. There was a faint smell of salt and the sound of seagulls saying goodbye.

It had to be the sea. No more rivers, just the ocean and the rocking of the waves at the shore. Uraraka walked fast to the edge of the forest —apparently she had been walking out of the forest and not really into it. She was met with a gust of air to her face that faded quickly, as if the tides were greeting her with animosity.

The sky was dark, yet held a purple hue to it. Stars littered the vast space of the sky that she couldn't quite reach no matter how high she soared, or how tall she felt. Her eyes fell shut in bliss, feeling the ambient envelop her like a warm blanket. She saw a dry log laying before her, mushrooms peeking from under it with grass and dew, all looking out to the horizon of the night.

Uraraka sat down on it to take in the misty air around her. Mint, flowers, dew, water and the silence. She should be collecting those berries but at the same time she didn't really need to, so for now, she just wouldn't. Palm on the log and another on her thigh, she shed a small smile. It felt like she had come to a bed after a harsh battle.

In a way, she had. Her life seemed to be an everlasting battlefield that right now, didn't seem to matter. Like a small special corner of the universe unscathed by the corruption that ran deep under the surface, one that nobody had fleshed out yet.

It didn't matter now. For a second, she let herself believe nothing mattered.

"Oi."

Of _course_.

"Didn't you say you wanted some berries or some shit?" she felt something collide with her back and, bemused, she leaned back to pick the small fabric bag up. "Found these. I'm doing all your damn tasks today. Aren't you supposed to be useful?"

Uraraka only turned around to look at him and make a tired, annoyed face she was again taking from him. "You shouldn't be this rude to anyone near a cliff. Accidents happen."

Uraraka had expected him to go away after that, give her some peace and quiet after throwing out his daily nasty remark by complaining about how much he despised her, how useless she was despite him having made her stay with his own stubborn and rude ways. Weirdly enough, his legs walked him to her and his ass hit the space by her side shortly after.

"You're getting too full of yourself." he mumbled to nobody in particular, sighing and stretching his arms up before lying his elbows on his knees, looking forward like she had been doing before his sudden interruption. "Don't be sassy to the man who cuts the wood for you."

It was worth noting he had left his axe behind him. And she knew that was no mistake. He didn't go to her to fight, and that was new and exhilarating. She chuckled. "I could have managed."

"Sure you fucking would have." grumbled Bakugou. They refused to look at each other. Uraraka had expected him to have another sarcastic remark to make to allegedly sink her in humiliation, yet nothing came out. He stared into the abyss of the universe just as she relaxed by his side.

They were invaded by an uncommon, comfortable and easy silence. Or at least, that's what she thought, for when he spoke again he sounded weirdly annoyed, suddenly. "You're being jumpy lately."

At this, she actually jumped a little. When Uraraka looked back at him, his eyes were looking at her differently. It wasn't full of negativity, anger, or any kind of animosity and disdain… it was something purely different. For once, Uraraka couldn't read him as well as she thought she could. His eyes were vacant in violence and flames, his crinkled eyebrows almost looked _solemn_ , worried, or concerned.

Uraraka felt out of place in times like these. He wasn't being himself, like that opposing force that was always against her and sort of complimented her existence in his stupid ways. In the silence of the night, looking out into the darkness of the night and the howling moon above them, she felt almost threatened and cornered. She had never really dealt with these kinds of feelings. What was she supposed to do with them now that they were alone and intimate?

These circumstances brought up an uncertain type of fear, not to the unknown but to the warmth he was letting himself radiate, so silent and so cautious with his voice. Seeing him be so calm made her nervous. It was as if something important was weighing him down and if something was weighing Bakugou down, the king of the wolves and the most stubborn and brazen man on Earth, then it was something worth fearing.

Was this the feeling he dealt with every single day, holding his feelings back from surfacing to not confront that kind of fear? It didn't excuse his behavior but she sure understood his seemingly heartless appearance if he was as afraid as she was in that moment. Afraid of the size of her feelings, of just _feeling_ in general. Uraraka felt she was too small for everything and would never be ready to face all in its entirety.

In the emptiness of her mind, she found peace and words. "You're being weird lately, too." her voice was just as calm but considering she was usually _that_ calm, it didn't seem out of character. She, though—she knew better. Uraraka knew she was nervous. Because he was nervous.

And she hadn't really thought about it much but he _had_ been acting nicer than ever when anyone would have thought he would be angry, livid at her after what she had done with RampAge. Had Uraraka seen somebody she had grown to care for die in front of her and if she discovered it had been all a lie, she would be damn furious, or at least feel betrayed. Perhaps he knew it was more worth it to forget about everything and move on to be comrades instead of enemies again.

The sorcerer had never thought about fighting him in a long time. She hoped he hadn't, either.

"I guess it's more worth it to suck your ego up before losing an important member of an operation. Even if she's a damn bitch and can't swing an axe the right way."

Bakugou knew it was a very badly fabricated lie. Not even she would believe it and Uraraka was terribly naïve when it came to believing in people's good will. He knew he didn't need to keep her around with sweet words because he had her from the beginning. After all, she would be gaining profits from this when they pulverized that forsaken clan, so she had more reasons to stay than to leave. He could say he was just making sure she didn't leave but that would be a lie too.

The hunter knew he'd lose her. At the end of their journey, one that was coming to a close way too soon, Uraraka would leave. It was obvious she would. His pride was a bit damaged by her endless and reckless shows of power and just her thawing her way into his heart. It was shocking to realize he wasn't as heartless as he pretended to be. And with the shock, his pride somewhat lowered, too.

Did he want to go back that lane and redo all his walls? Not anymore. Being more appreciative of others' work and seeing them grow a little bit each day had become something new to take pride on. Everyone around him had faith in each other and it was high time he joined the fun as well, even if it took a push from a newcomer for him to realize. It took him a long time to see that he could still be great while standing in similar levels to his peers.

Uraraka hadn't triggered this, but he knew she had helped him. She had kind of slammed the door open and forced him to accept her in a similar way he would have done if he had had half the interest she had presented at the beginning of their journey, way way back in time. They weren't as different as he thought. Uraraka by herself was pretty spectacular.

And with his world flipped upside down he found himself thinking that maybe, he _was_ being nicer (still a jerk, but much better) in general but it was undeniable that being nice to Uraraka felt different. He wasn't only humoring and encouraging somebody he supported and admired. He was humoring, encouraging and _loving_ somebody he supported, admired and wanted to spend time with. Her unmovable faith had finally broke him. A faith she never needed to have, a faith that would have saved her lots of trouble _yet_ he was ever so thankful for someone to make him feel the warmth of feeling cared for.

The ghosts telling him it was all lies were long gone. Instead, she had soiled a beautiful sunflower within him, brimming with the serenity and radiance only a girl like her could provide. She wasn't a damsel for him to protect, nor was he a wounded brute for her to save. Instead, they were equal rivals that had found themselves drawn to the other in given time, protecting the other not because they were weak when separated, but because they were _stronger_ together.

It was a matter of time one of them sat down and realized they had to do something about it.

Her small voice filled the space of what seemed to be an ocean between them. "Well, that's good to hear. I thought you'd be the hardest one to deal with."

Forgetting his inner turmoil, his eyes turned skeptical at her statement. "Why's that?"

A tiny gap of silence formed yet again within them, but unlike earlier, Uraraka tried to convey a mute message of regret and apology with her crinkled eyes, her head cocked to a side, as if confused he didn't get it. They never really stood in the same planes of existence, but it was time they defined where they stood with this situation.

So despite her personal promise to not feed her feelings and the situation, Uraraka spoke up. "After what happened with RampAge. After what I did. After I ran away."

Too graphical, and that surprised Bakugou, somehow. He shouldn't be taken aback by her blunt words yet she was always unpredictable, wasn't she? He chuckled without humor, remembering the cold carcass that her body had once been. "Yeah. Had a great fucking time back then."

Uraraka considerably shrank at his words, but really what could she expect? She was lucky enough he wasn't being as violent and crude as he was some days ago, because she'd be leaving their little sanctuary if that was the case. This time, though, she knew what to say. And it wasn't some stuttered half-assed apology to get out of the situation. "I think I already apologized to everyone but… I think I owe you more than that."

The brunette slid a bit closer to him. He didn't flinch back, and listened to her while gazing out into the infinity of the darkened horizon.

"What I did… I _had_ to. I was feeling pressured by people around me to make a decision about what path to take next and nobody was making the task easier. It was _hard_ for me, Bakugou. I never meant to hurt you, or the guild. In my mind, nobody would mind me being gone because nobody was paying attention to what people were telling me from the dark side of the story." her voice had turned somehow choked, but she wasn't stopping. "You were pinning on me with your silly ego and your stupid words and I didn't feel it'd be right for me to be there, for some reason. So I took the easy path."

Bakugou gritted his teeth. "You call Shinsou the easy path? I'd say he hardened you up a lot, didn't he?"

"Well, _yes_. But at the same time, it was easy because it seemed to be the obvious choice. Nobody offered me anything there other than… nothing, just, nobody offered anything. But all I saw around me was actually bad with little room to wiggle for the good things." she explained, eyes almost pleading for him to understand. "I know me being a pawn to destroy that monster could have somewhat hurt the others but it was just a transition point-"

One of her hands, that had loomed over his shoulder, stopped mid-air when he grabbed her wrist. Bakugou wasn't looking at her yet.

"Could have _somewhat_ hurt others? Seeing a comrade die before us is more than hurting!" and he spoke with the confidence of the man who had held her in his arms as she froze to death, her skin clad in ice and frost as she faded away. Was he supposed to say he was fine with that? "I don't expect you to own up to it because you got the right to have ambitions, but you could have chosen a less shitty way to go about it."

The sorcerer broke free from his grasp and cradled her hands to her chest. "I hadn't expected to go back. If I hadn't been told to investigate the Jirou clan, I wouldn't have had the guts to go back to you guys. I know I have a mission and going back to people I abandoned would only make the situation messier." Uraraka sighed. Before Bakugou could snap back, she spoke again. "I missed you guys, don't get me wrong. I missed _you_ , too. But I can't expect to be greeted warmly when I did more harm than good."

Deeming the little coziness in the air to be gone, she looked at her palms on her thigh with a dejected expression. She thought she had moved on from those feelings but yet again she felt she hadn't owned up to that mistake she made. Uraraka was _surely_ bound to make worse mistakes in the future, but this one was one she couldn't move on from. She had been so sure back then, so why were they making her change her mind?

Bakugou let out a grumpy sigh, one of those he did when he knew someone was right, and regarded her with eyes that finally conceded the solemnity she had reached out for earlier, no matter the butterflies that erupted in his belly when she admitted he had been missed as well despite his behavior.

"Y'know, you defeated the bastard that killed my mother. I can't build a sculpture for you, but you will always have my gratitude for avenging her death." his confession was almost whispered, eyes closed to not let any more feelings seep out, frowning. "It was a bad way to do it, and I can't fucking believe you would be so stupid to almost _die_ just so that bastard could rest in peace."

Speechless, she grimaced. "Well-"

"And there's no way you're gonna have me bowing down to your feet. But you have my thanks. In fact, you have everyone's thanks for shoving a heavy boulder off our shoulders." he lay his palm on the bark, dangerously close to touching her dress with his fingertips. "We were sad, yes. But we were never grieving a brat. We were grieving someone who had fallen in battle."

It was then when she realized that she had been in the wrong all this time. Perhaps Bakugou was violent and brash and rude and just a jerk, but he was nothing near to heartless as she had suspected. He was more than an armor with a brain. He had skin, bones, power and a pounding heart. He was like her. Bakugou was human, too, and had to bend to admit he admired her in ways he never thought he would.

Uraraka thought he was beautiful that way. "I… thank you. You're just a brush with death and a runaway late, but it's still appreciated." both chuckled, her a bit more audibly and him more subtly but it was fine that way. "I just wanted to make things right badly. I know I have a business left to do still, I knew and know I have things to do and I believe that was the right path."

Because sometimes, the easy path is also the right path, she thought. Maybe in time she'd make him realize that no matter how tough the path had been, that had been the right choice, for a change. In his own roundabout way, he agreed. "Well, you're hella badass now. I owe you a beating for what you did at the tournament, you caught me off-guard. Whatever business you gotta do will keep you busy."

"Yeah…" his words started dripping with a reality she hadn't seen in him before, making her shoulders drop as she stared into his sharp eyes, as if he was acknowledging that he _knew_ she'd end up leaving in the end. "it definitely will, won't it?"

It would. Uraraka knew it would. Bakugou knew it would. Everyone knew it would. As they gazed into the other's eyes in a moment of debility, it was only the more evident neither of them wanted her to leave. If Bakugou were to be selfish, he'd drag her down and make her stay, and give in to what he felt and he'd make sure the little sunflower within him never died. He was addicted to the shine in her eyes and the innocence she had given back to him, one he had lost long ago.

But that world was too small for her. She had been given a bigger task than the life he and their friends could give to her. He wanted to be selfish so, so badly. But he couldn't. Bakugou couldn't bring himself to do that to her. He could tear her apart physically and send her to a deathbed, but in the end he'd never damage her more than what she was willing to. He could see it in her eyes that she wanted to see the world, but that if it were for her she'd even take them with her.

Uraraka was doomed to be alone and fight this alone. He knew only her had the powers, contacts and mind to dismantle this havoc that surrounded them silently, threatening to break whatever thread that joined their hearts in twain if they moved, if they touched the other too much. But for now, the universe, the gods and time watched over them in silence, unmoving.

The world always stopped spinning when they met. But in the end, the world couldn't stay motionless forever. And Uraraka knew that no matter how much she wanted to stay, she couldn't. And he wouldn't want it, either. Even if Bakugou felt the same for her (she knew he didn't, wrongly) he had just admitted she would have to leave, eventually.

"I don't want it to be over." she confessed, slowly and in a small voice that didn't suit her. He inched a bit closer to her, and he realized their hands, slanted on the tree bark under them, were brushing. "I want to stay with you guys and have fun."

He scowled a little at her sad voice, but he couldn't refrain from giving in a little to the lonely atmosphere he'd deal with when she was gone. "You got stuff to do. I guess the guild will be a tad less noisy… it's a relief, actually."

She offered an awkward smile. "I guess so."

But god, wouldn't he miss that fucking noise. "And I'll have no more jumpy brats around me, either."

"I'm _not_ jumpy."

"Then why the hell are you so tense, lately?" it wasn't as if he couldn't read the situation and she remembered that at times, he actually _couldn't_. "Is it…?"

Uraraka pushed her eyes to the sea under them, that rolled against the cliff under the forest, ignoring that his fingers had sneaked between hers when he was asking his question. "It's… complicated."

"I ain't stupid, I know something is going on in that airhead of yours." in any other scenario he would have given her head a small smack. He didn't, this time. "So you better tell me now, because tomorrow's probably the last day we got."

She looked at him with a hurt expression, because using that guilt-tricking reminder against her was a low blow, but she knew he was right. She wasn't afraid of speaking, but a knot had tied itself, latched to her throat and she was losing the ability to be coherent. A mild blush splashed across her cheeks and god forbid her from confessing anything but she could _at least_ speak in a less blunt way. Just… a hint, maybe?

After all, she didn't want him to live with the thought of what could have been. "I just… well you've been acting nice to me and the rest lately and, well, it's confusing to me." the hand that wasn't tangled with his on the bark rested on her chest, looking at how his formed a fist on his thigh. "I just feel… weird and I don't want any of this to be over."

Bakugou stared at her in silence, then clenched his jaw in frustration because he could only offer one counterargument. "Yet, you've only been tense with me."

"Have I?" asked she, lying.

"Yeah. And call me jerk all you wanna but I notice this shit, too."

Uraraka gulped thickly at how affected he actually sounded and it wasn't like him to sound this way. He always acted almighty and powerful; but that was all it was, after all, just an act. Maybe he thought it had been enough acting and he now wanted to speak his mind just as much as she wanted to.

Could she say he loved him when she knew it was bound to be over? Could he say he loved her when he knew it was bound to be over?

Uraraka knew the answer. Bakugou knew the answer. But this time… she didn't let herself think about it. The fear to be rejected, the thought of it being destined to be destroyed no matter how much she protected it. "I, uh… feel nervous about you, sometimes, because you are too nice, or at least just nice." she offered with the face of a liar, yet the heart of a truther. His sincere, listening eyes somehow told her he could read her just as good as she thought she could.

"And I don't wanna stay away from you."

Too blunt, but why did it feel so good to say that, finally? "I wanna stay by your side. I want to fight with you, both by your side and against you. I don't want to leave, Bakugou. I want to say I don't care about the world and stay with you until it's destroyed, but I _do_ care."

When she blinked, her eyes turned desperate, a brink away from asking for help because she loved him but what were they supposed to do? "I wanna be with you. I wanna bicker and smash heads with you, I wanna hug you again, I wanna hear you laugh someday, I just want to stay by your side for much, much longer than this." she thought she heard him gasp quietly, but she had probably imagined it. "I wanna be with you. In a different way." she was speaking too much, but before she could stop, the truth was rolling off her tongue like waves roll against a castle. "I wanna stay with you, take care of you… I just-!"

Uraraka didn't silence herself willingly.

Before she could say anything else, something warm and chapped was covering her mouth and pushing her back momentarily before her focus returned and she found herself in his arms, one hand covering hers and another cupping her neck with a grip so possessive it brought the word _desperate_ to her mind, and made her realize that Bakugou was, indeed, _kissing her._

His touch was almost hesitant, as if afraid she'd leave if he didn't keep her close, almost too faint in case she shattered like glass. Her eyes were wide open, leaning against him just as reluctantly, frozen to her place and almost unable to move. He was holding like craftsman held a masterpiece. His lips were chapped, but tender, and when they connected with hers, it felt like fireworks were erupting in the far distance, sparks flying like cackling electricity. Everything had stopped spinning around them, and for now, it was only her and him.

Uraraka's eyes fluttered close, the hand that wasn't holding his clutching the fur on his shoulders for dear life, waiting for him to move, to get her out of that position, just _anything_ —but instead, the kiss was gone too soon and he was pulling back from her with his eyes still closed, holding her just as delicately. When he broke away, he didn't bother going too far away, and pressed his forehead to hers. His eyes were asking her to tell him what to do.

Uraraka had two options: she could run away and leave the warmth he provided, or make the mistake of giving in to that small nirvana that was clouding in her head.

Her eyes stayed shut, processing what had just happened and somewhat holding onto the warmth that was slowly leaving her body as the kiss evaporated. It was only when he broke away that she realized she wanted _more_ of it. Almost shyly, she reached for his neck to bring him down again, and he understood the gesture. A second later, their lips met again halfway, but his hold was now stronger than before, igniting soothing flames on her skin.

The kiss was silent and tender, tainted with the want to never part and be together until death caught them, wrapped in the silence of the night and the light of the moon. Their lips moved in sync, slowly, taking their time, conveying a thousand feelings with each touch of their hands, each breath they drew from the other. The brush of their lips was like a chasing game, not allowing the other to get too far away. His body molded against hers and sheltered her in a shell of affection and intoxicating warmth.

For some reason, Uraraka felt like she has surfaced from slumber within the ocean, yet the more he kissed her, the more she sunk down. His teeth nip into her bottom lip playfully, making her inhale a shaky breath at how teasing he was being, yet ultimately gently. The hand on the bark travelled up to grasp the fur on his shoulders, and he followed her loyally, covering it with his own calloused fingers. She needed to be closer to him, cover all the gaps between their shifting bodies.

He took the time to worship every and each of her little cuts on her lips, and caressed the small scars on her soft cheeks. Bakugou tilted his head to a side to deepen the kiss a notch, and pulled her closer by the tall neck of her uniform with an impatient growl. She tasted like berries and fresh spring air, he tasted like lemon and ashes. Her heart clapped soundly within her chest, fluttering like the dawny wings of a newborn bird that was soaring towards the sky.

She felt _weightless_.

His lips caressed hers in a private dance, as if scared she'd leave if he was too harsh—but she wanted the harshness, the touch of his fingers all over her body in a way she never expected to ever wish for. Their lips lingered over the other for two seconds before reconnecting again, and again, satiating that mutual thirst that was only growing stronger with each touch of his lips with hers.

The more they kissed, the closer she pulled him and the tighter he embraced her, tasting and drinking from her like a dying man on a dessert. He caressed her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and she gasped in surprise, but he swallowed that gasp fully. They were basically holding onto the other, not wanting to part and refusing to even breathe, because as long as they had the other, they would be fine. Death sounded like a sweet serenade if it meant never breaking away, never parting from the other's arms.

That tight knot, so deliciously pleasant knot that was forming in her belly and how the kiss was slowly turning a bit hungrier, his teeth piercing into her pink lips a bit stronger, small hums of pleasure erupting from her throat —she was forgetting how to think, mind blank and drawn to a point where all she knew was that she needed his touch more, to get drunk by his small growls and the not so innocent way his hands held her close to him, so selfish yet so, _so_ intoxicating.

His hold was possessive, unyielding, tilting his head even further to very carefully caress her bottom lip with his own, giving her one last squeeze to the hand on his chest and another last tender touch of his lips with hers before breaking away , both breathing unevenly and not really knowing what to say but knowing that they really didn't need to say anything other than chuckle against the other's lips, their breaths mingling and mixing and holding onto the other while they slowly came to.

When he realized what had happened and that he was probably hurting her by holding on so tight, he didn't dare let go. Uraraka also saw she had dug some nasty marks on his chest through the pierced fur, but she didn't have the wit to feel guilty about it. In fact, she leaned up to give him a small peck, almost unsure this had actually happened by the way she pulled back so slowly, gazing into his eyes so intensely.

It was like a child that had just seen the stars for the first time and he didn't know if he should be proud of himself or worried. Instead of saying some cheesy ass line about how much he had liked the kiss, he focused on following the line prior to it. "You gotta seriously stop rambling on your own before fucking listening to me."

By the way his thumb brushed the skin of her cheekbone, he wasn't being harsh intentionally. Or, he was trying to memorize the feeling of her skin under his hand before she vanished forever. It kind of felt like it was… love.

Dumbstruck, Uraraka's voice hadn't grown in size, but it was thicker with emotion and wonder. "Why did you… kiss me?" she was making it sound as if she hadn't kissed him back and the lust and desire that was still stirring in her stomach was not real. Her blown wide eyes and blemished cheeks told another story, though, and it was probably what kept him anchored to her like this.

However, his touch faltered at her words, and his hands fell to her shoulders in a fashion that screamed disappointment and fear and rung all alarms in her head. Still, his words made her realize that, maybe, she was not the only one afraid of rejection. His cheeks weren't red or pink, but his eyes became guarded and looked to a side. "You told me how you felt." her breath hitched and got stuck in her throat. "So I just did the fucking same."

It was a way so very like him to say things, roundabout and confusing until the very end. Uraraka sometimes forgot that under all that fragile ego hid a small child afraid of expressing his feelings if they were as compromising as this was, but now that they were probably at the very end of the story and they didn't really have much to lose —other than each other, they knew, but it was better to not think about it —it was worth a shot.

Uraraka had been close to spilling the beans, but the one who had stopped being the coward had ended up being him, the emotionally constipated bastard. Perhaps the coward one had always been her.

Should she say she felt the same? Was it really necessary? He had specified she had spoken out her feelings and he had expressed his, but did he realize they were the same? Maybe she was overthinking, maybe he knew that she had feelings for him even before this happened. You never knew with Bakugou. Right before the chaos began and when they had no time to actually explore what they could be together, bravery came out in the worst yet also best of moments.

The sorcerer wondered if he knew that confessing now was killing her, but she had attempted to do the same, too. It could also be that he knew a solution to fix this mess—rather, the mess that they'd have on their hands when the time came for them to part again.

She was inexplicably happy that despite not being able to be together, they'd at least know they could have been together, had her duties not come in the way. Deep inside, she wanted to trick herself into thinking it would never work even if they felt this burning love for the other, but it wouldn't help the situation to think this way, either. Now, all she wanted to do is spend all night with him like a normal, lovestruck little girl with her beloved stubborn leader, talking about the world, looking at the stars and dreaming together.

But she wasn't a normal girl.

And he wasn't a normal guy, either.

So it looked like this little exchange was all they'd get for now, and she was content with that. Judging by the appeased look behind his eyes, he seemed happier than she had ever seen him. His eyes had the sparkle of a child waiting for Christmas, clouded by his own thick layer of stubborness and denial, but time would give leeway for that sparkle to shine more if they got another chance to be together.

Uraraka wanted to be selfish more than ever. But she wasn't like that, and he knew it. No matter how much he wanted to bask in the sunshine that she carried with her, he knew it wouldn't be long until the night came to swallow him whole again. He wished he knew how to keep her by his side but frankly, he knew she was bound to grow out of the soil that tied his kind down and touch the stars.

Uraraka wished he had the solution to this, a way to never part from the other, that he could even reach out and ask for her to stay, but he wasn't selfish either, at least not that way. She wished he knew how to stay together despite everything—a huge part of her knew she was _hoping_ he knew how to be together. Just like she had expressed. In the end, she had ran out of reasons to believe anything around her was worthwhile—that she would find happiness, the joy she so desperately sought for all along.

But he didn't have this solution. And sadly, she didn't know this.

For now, she'd hold out for hope and focus on what mattered, which was the dark clan that was, in her mind, her last place to land on before she took flight forever and never came back. He let go of her eventually, taking in her warm smile and how genuinely happy she looked to be by his side, no matter what happened the day after.

They worldessly decided to stay out a bit more, hands entwined on the tree bark looking out at the stars, but none of them spoke a word. Instead, Bakugou focused on wishing for her to stay with him, just as Uraraka wished for him to give her a solution, to give her a reason to believe in this world again, to have something in her life that anchored to a beautiful planet of colors submerged in corruption and humankind withering.

But in the end, they were just star-crossed lovers.

And that was all they'd ever be. Bound to tug at the red ribbon before it snapped and left them wondering what it could have been.

* * *

After that event at the house, Ochako had ran away. It had been hardly something she thought about at the time, because the sight of her friends standing there in the rain without doing absolutely anything made her blood boil. So, a second later, after that sorrowful clap of thunder had struck the Earth they were in, she quickly leaped away from scene and disappeared into the forest to never be seen again.

Those were her original plans.

They had tried to give chase, but she was so driven by anger and confusion that there was no way she'd let herself be caught. She needed to be alone, think about what all of this entailed—both sides of the story had actually _collaborated_ to destroy her family, the only thing she was supposed to have in that clear, gray world. It was always drowning in rain, but it was her home after all, her little nest. It had once been her only source of joy, when the world was too small for her to know there was more out of her home.

But she didn't like this world. She didn't like this world where people around her were only focused in bloodshed, in having their way with some petty revenge that, in the end, wouldn't fix anything but steal their souls and rob them of the sense in such tunnel-driven lives. Ochako detested this world where there was no happiness, just corruption—and even the person she loved that lived across the river had been born to be a soldier against the people who had at least raised her up.

How hadn't she seen all along that _he_ was her enemy? At the end of the day, the battle between clans would remain and they were from different places. She was _human_ but the 'aliens' had raised her, so there was no way she could side with the other clan, right? But things had changed now, and it wasn't a clan versus her family, but two clans that had stolen her family away and basically kidnapped her to use a weapon.

She wasn't anyone to anybody. She was just an object. She didn't have a home anymore.

So she set her plans into motion.

In the meantime, Katsuki was running around the pink village searching for her. His assumption had been to think she had to go home for food or something eventually, because after the tough travelling they had endured, he was expecting her to have rushed home for things to then run away again. Yet, no one had seen her anywhere in that village. Everyone had become frantic when hearing that Ochako was missing.

However, if his assumptions of her being the so desired magician were right, perhaps they were just worried their powerhouse was nowhere to be found. In hindsight, it kind of made sense that she felt as betrayed as she did. Katsuki just hoped she knew he had nothing to do with the war. Katsuki hoped she would realize that shit about his clan having killed her parents had to be bullshit.

He hadn't killed anyone close to her. Maybe some animals, maybe some small fishes and a few bears but how could she think anyone had killed her parents? Her parents were in the village. Those pink bastards. Still, he didn't want to think about the issue lest it became more complicated than what it seemed to be.

All he knew was that something had broken within her and provoked her to escape, further and further away from him, from them. Nobody had seen her anywhere, and he was afraid of stirring anything back home by mentioning that the mage that was supposedly under control was on the loose. Katsuki was leaving house by house without any trace of her.

And it was driving him nuts to just think that something could have happened to her. Something dangerous. Ochako had always been the fastest of them all, the mightiest but above all the sweetest—but what he saw that night made him absolutely terrified. The truth behind that dead stare didn't matter, but the way her heart had broken so hard that probably even the gods above had heard.

 _It hadn't stopped raining ever since then_. It was like somebody was actually angry and was encouraging Ochako to carry out whatever she was planning and _that_ was terrifying, for she was the bluntest and the quickest to act when given a good reason to. The face she pulled back there screamed good reasons, and above all, evil reasons.

Katsuki didn't like any of this. However, things were about to get worse, but above all, weirder. He heard hurrying steps behind him that were being met with the gasps of the agitated crowd looking for the girl, and was met with a familiar mess of red hair followed by another familiar set of horns and pink hair, the trademark look of the people around him.

"Yo, Katsuki!" Kirishima's hands were on his knees, trying to control his ragged breathing. Katsuki walked to him decisively, immediately alarmed when he saw that his friend's eyes were crinkled with worry and, above all, _urgency_. "We've heard Ochako has landed on your village!"

Upon hearing this, the already anxious crowds around him started raising their voices to whisper among each other in worry. Again, Katsuki was left wondering if they were worried about her wellbeing or her political position as of now. But that wasn't the main point here. "What do you mean she's in _my_ village?"

Mina spoke up this time. "She has handed herself to the head of your clan willingly. She went straight to his residence and bowed her head to him, even kneeled down! Ochako has sworn loyalty to them now." she spoke carefully, knowing that the people around her would instantly get angry at these news. Somehow, nobody said a word, just listened intently to the story. "We tried to reach her but a bunch of guards caught us and kicked us out."

They hadn't been beaten to a pulp but they did have some ugly marks on their cheeks. Some ice would do, probably. "Are you guys alright? How can you be so fucking stupid to go there without knowing the way or just plain without _me_? You are from the other side of the river!"

"That doesn't matter right now!" Kirishima had a very valid point. "The thing here is she has handed herself to them! Just like that! What the hell is going on?"

People around Katsuki started talking again, the whispers sounding angry and harsh from what he could make out between the cloudy, white noise that didn't reach his brain, as it was overloaded with fear and trepidation with what Ochako could be planning. He never took her for the cunning, sly type, and a part of him knew she actually was _not_ like that. There had to be something else he didn't know, that only she knew.

But for now, Ochako had handed herself to the opposite force for free, like a slave surrendering to the force of a meteorite. And Katsuki was, for once in his life, scared fucking _shitless_.

* * *

Fear had taken over everyone's sleep that night, the warriors had found slumber hugging either their pillows or their comrades close to their tremoring bodies. Countless thoughts ran through their heads at the speed of light, knitting an endless net of insecurities and fears that let absolutely nobody off the hook. Instead of being filled with confidence after finding the so seeked lair, after knowing victory could finally be theirs, they were overcome with the thought that now that they were at the gates of hell, it could be that they wouldn't be able to handle the heat.

It was terrifying. In a sense, they knew they could do pretty much anything they put their strength into. They had demonstrated to countless foes that if they teamed up for real, they could be a frightening bunch of kids to play with. Several dark guilds had had to kneel down under their might and ferocity that contrasted with their candid personality and appearance. Asui's childish looks had led to several leaders falling down and missing the bloodshed that lay behind her dead gaze, just as Bakugou's brutality could be mistaken with battlefield rashness.

Uraraka knew what deception was like. Guards at the walls of the Capital had tried to get cocky with her seeing how round her cheeks were and how soft her gaze melted under the light of the sun. Nobody had survived that misunderstanding without a scar on their skin to prove they had made a grave mistake.

She wasn't a fool, and after all these encounters with people being so judgemental and mighty, she had been cautious enough to never let herself be deceived by this trait. She never let Shinsou's scruffy looks forget he was a rather sophisticated sorcerer, just as she never let Todoroki's elegance forget he could be rather violent when his dearest peers were in danger. Now that she was organizing her potions and emergency tricks and saw him look around his scattered friends, it was apparent his care for them was big.

But what was also spacious was the nervousness in his glance, and the way his hands trembled ever so slightly when he saw the weapons lying around in case of emergency. Seeing how fearful the serene warrior was, all covered under his cool façade, it made her wonder if those appearances were deceiving the guild as a whole, too, tricking them into a false sense of security. Making them thinking it had been too easy (yet time consuming) to find their lair, as if they were lurking somewhere else.

Perhaps that's why everyone had been wide awake under their closed lids. It was sometimes better to try to find comfort in the darkness, even if it was to no avail. Dawn came rolling soon enough, and everyone started getting up from their sleeping places after what had probably been 1 hour of sleep. Yet, Asui came prepared.

She started taking out small flasks of orange fluids that were still steaming from the day before. Uraraka saw now that the cauldron had most likely been invested in these potions, foreseeing nobody would sleep much when such mission was coming and they were getting close to the end. "Everyone, drink those in one go. They taste pretty strong, but it will feel like a vigorizing slap to the face."

She was far from kidding. Uraraka sniffed the contents of the lukewarm bottle and instantly flinched away from it. The smell was like that of a strong medicine, because all strong medicines had an awful taste. Asui had probably been too hurried to add the berries Uraraka gave to her to add a bit of sweetness, and Kaminari was the first one to complain.

He didn't complain, he mostly whined after following Uraraka's steps and smelling the thick liquid. "You want to kill us before we even get to the good part of the mission!"

Asui drank hers quickly without a single complaint. She was already used to tasting all the bad stuff she created back at her lab in the village, and told them all the sentence that would make anyone drink whatever they were given, if it was beneficial to her. "Better to drink this and cough a little than becoming a corpse for the Jirou clan to experiment with."

Kaminari and Uraraka sweatdropped with a tragic, terrified face if disgust, going cold at the harsh statement. Everyone started drinking the dubious liquids, sips so hard and quick some almost choked on the burning taste. Not wanting to be left behind, the other two gulped and drank it quickly, coughing at the bad taste and thank god Asui wasn't a chef and knew she sometimes had to cook stuff even she admitted that tasted hideous. Asui was rarely angry, but whenever she was, she wasn't to be taken lightly.

Kirishima held the bottle up with a grimace of almost pain. "Yo, Asui, at least make them smaller next time. These hit like a ton of bricks."

Uraraka was grateful for the rush of stamina. The statement made Kaminari shriek in indignation, though. "The effects of the potion aren't the issue here!"

Somebody threw their bottle to the ground, empty, and it rolled away from sight silently. "Do we gotta take anything else? We shouldn't be waiting this long for Sero to come back." said Bakugou with a frown. He had ditched the axe for a blade that he was now dipping in poison. She had seen that weapon in several fights of theirs when sparring, and it was probably his infamous cursed sword that appeared to be sharp as hell today.

Being cut with that had to be nasty. She gulped. He didn't seem to take care of his weapons as passionately as now, so the cause must be inspiring him into work. Midoriya was actually sharpening his as well with a pocket stone. "Sero's gone with the rest of the team to check if there's anything else worth checking there. He gave us the location in the map, but he wants to escort us there."

Todoroki chirped in. "How far is it from here?"

"I'd say 10 minutes, but this forest can be confusing to wander in. It's the biggest one in the whole nation. Our river must look like a mere stream compared to the size of this forest." explained he. "We'll use the river as our main point of guidance and wing it if Sero doesn't come to us. He should be here any minute now."

After her night with Bakugou at the improvised lookout to the sea, neither had waited for Sero to come by. They had been so wrapped up in the adverse faith they were facing that it didn't even cross their minds to ponder if Sero had gotten to base or not. It appeared he either hadn't, or he did get to them and nobody was there to see him go to sleep or leave.

She didn't know and right now she was too focused on being tight and nervous about the final showdown against Midnight to even care where Sero was. Bakugou and Midoriya would care for her. She was no leader after all, was she? All she had to do now was fight and leave, those were her original plans.

Yet a part of her felt tied to this guild and compromised to help with all she could. At the surface, their ties were merely business ones, so she shouldn't really give a damn about anything they did as long as they got the task done. Perhaps it was because of how brazen Bakugou had been in the past that she wasn't as blindly trusting as she was in the past. Although this plan seemed more carefully lay down than the past one…

 _"You had planned on going against such monstrosity without as much of an attacking plan? Do you even know how tall this guy is?"_

 _Bakugou leant back against the chair, chewing over the defeat. "No."_

 _Ugh._

But now he at least seemed to be trusting more on his peers than on a gut feeling as he did in the past, and was thinking things through instead of relying on brute force. Midoriya and him seemed to be on at least civile terms, even though Bakugou was visibly annoyed by his sole appearance to this day. It was good to know things weren't changing for worse.

It was a poor philosophy but that was all she could say about that.

Yaoyorozu had just finished her potion when she walked to Midoriya's side, just as Kaminari tried to convince Uraraka that Asui was plotting to poison everyone in the guild. Meanwhile, the leader looked at the female knight in question. "How are we going to sneak into their lair, though? I bet they have traps and hidden guards all over the place."

Uraraka and Kaminari stopped their chatter to listen in, focused.

"Well, Sero has the details for that. We only know a vague part of it all but him and Hagakure have been working on a plan to get us in there. We also have to deal with Jack's disappearance which is a pretty unexpected dent in our plans, but Sero said it would only need a bit of a twist to fix." after mentioning their missing comrade, everyone's mood plummeted to the ground.

Bakugou noticed this in how Kirishima and Uraraka looked at the ground in thought, and looked at them when he spoke. "Oi. Why are you all so gloomy so suddenly? That brat was only a fucking traitor to us."

Unexpectedly, Kirishima almost _snapped_ back at him. "You're the one who took her in. I don't know why you are suddenly calling her a brat. Even _you_ know something is not right."

Midoriya sensed an argument coming through so he tried to disperse it by throwing some truth into the situation. "I guess many things start making sense now. The Jirous probably found her a bit too soon."

Everyone seemed to take this information it as if it was a fact, but Uraraka didn't know what was going on. She wasn't much more than a newbie and hadn't had time to speak with Jack lately. "Wait, what's the deal with Jack? Do you guys know why she's gone so suddenly?"

"You probably can sense what's going on here, your face when we told you about this was very telling." said Midoriya, looking at her with a kind expression. She could tell he was just as disappointed as she was, but mostly sad that this had to happen. "Jack is sided with the Jirou clan. She probably has, all along."

Considering how perfect the timing had been, it was the only reachable conclusion. Her very apparent absence lately, her demeanor and her appearance—but why was she even with them in the first place? Was she just a spy? Her eyes met Bakugou's in a search of answers, their private riddle forgotten for the sake of their missing comrade.

The blonde sighed, and dodged her eyes knowing that Uraraka was still a delicate subject. "Jack came running to our guild pretty much like you were. She was looking for food and shelter for one night, scared for her life about stuff she had seen and how her family was apparently _too much for her_ , and she was running away from them. Seeing how the Jirou clan is, it sorta makes sense she was escaping those bastards."

Kirishima nodded, arms crossed. "She had fallen off a high place and has wounded, as well. We had to patch her up and help her recollect her memories from what had happened prior to her fall. Jack probably remembered all along but was too scared to tell us. All makes sense, now. It sucks."

"We never expected for her to stay around much, she was always a bit of a stray cat." said Yaoyorozu with a smile, remembering how she had seen her friend drop in and drop out at times before settling in. "She never really intended to be friends with us, all she wanted was some shelter and to not be found by her family. They caught up with us faster than we could defeat them."

A memory crossed Uraraka's mind really quick. "Wait, does that mean that when we crossed them on our way to the Capital, they were looking for Jack?"

"It's possible." responded Tokoyami from a bit afar, readying his weapons with the help of Iida. "The Jirous rarely do raids like those or target sole groups unless they have a reason to. They don't exactly pillage for goods. They are more of an underground mafia that has been getting more and more known as their influence grew, too. The more powerful you are, the less you need to to do such little attacks."

"So they attacked us for answers?"

"I'd say that. But this is all just a hypothesis." Midoriya agreed with Tokoyami. He had heard the story from Asui and knew how it had went down. He had also seen in what state Midnight had left Bakugou so it surely hadn't been a pleasant situation. "They never really attack you for goods other than big merchants with valuable things. They are not those kinds of thieves."

Kaminari chirped in from a bit further away. "I don't remember much about that but they did mention something about it being their territory. It does make sense that they attacked us just to chase us out of there."

"Yeah, but we weren't even near their circle of influence, which are forests near _our_ village and the Capital, and this entire forest as well. That place right there is of no importance whatsoever—it's a bit of a gray zone. Besides, it was the leader herself who came to attack us, so whatever it is must be of great importance for her." thought Yaoyorozu out loud.

"Well, I'd say a daughter would fit in that criteria." mumbled Todoroki to nobody in particular. He had assumed everyone had seen their resemblance and had put one and one together, but he was proven otherwise with the glances his peers dedicated to him. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed. Those two are like two drops of water. If I was a father I'd be willing to send an army to find a daughter that has run away from home."

Well, that did sound logical, but wasn't that taking it too far? "Still. Wasting soldiers or energy in a daughter when you can be taking over a nation seems a bit too… inconvenient? What value could Jack have that tops the worth of overpowering a big country?" asked Uraraka again. She didn't mean to be argumentative, she was just curious.

This time it was Bakugou who spoke up. "It's not up to us to judge what a mother wants to do with their child, but seeing how passionately Jack has been running away from them and how they have been chasing after us and _her_ , it wouldn't be too crazy to think Midnight has ill intentions. She's a damn wicked witch, that woman."

Yaoyorozu's expression turned grim at the prospect of her friend being in danger. "We have to take her out of there. I don't care if she's a traitor for you all, or if she attacked you Bakugou or whatever. She is _not_ evil!"

"We know she isn't." interjected Midoriya, his tone dead. "I can't forget her trying to attack Bakugou and Uraraka, probably manipulated by her roots, but I can't overlook how much she has helped us grow." his fingers curled into a fist. "Every member of this guild is important. We have to look forward and get her back."

Still, everyone was thinking the same thing: something was off. Kirishima was the first one to speak up, tone innocent and thoughtful. "It _is_ weird that despite having detached herself from her family, she was willing to sneak an attack on Bakugou and Uraraka that way. Her room didn't show signs of anyone forcing her out of there, so she must have run away on her own, too."

That _was_ sketchy. Out of everyone, it was Bakugou who defended her this time, or at least shrugged that off. He hadn't put faith in his comrades to let himself be fooled again. "That's something we can talk to her about later, but for now, we gotta focus on taking Midnight down."

Everyone in that room nodded in decision, and soon enough, there was rustling of some leaves coming from above Tokiyami's head. A second later, a body made its descent from the thick foliage and crashed with Tokoyami's unexpecting stance and plummeted to the ground. A hissing man shook his head and shed a grin at the baffled comitée watching the scene unfold. Meanwhile, Tokoyami cursed under his breath.

"Hey guys!" greeted the spy, getting up from his makeshift cushion and dusting dirt off his uniform. "Long time no see!"

Bakugou gritted his teeth and directed a disdainful glare at him. "You're late, dumbass. What took you so long?"

"I had to figure out my way around here. The clan was moving around a bit more than usual yesterday so I had to stay and hold the fort for the rest of the gang. They seem agitated." then, his eyes fell on Uraraka while he was scanning his peers. "Wait, I had heard you had died."

Uraraka grimaced a bit, not in annoyance but in the poor and blunt choice of words. Anytime anyone reminded her of this occurrence she took that as a small whip to the back, a minor private punishment. Midoriya saw this and tried to back her up, earning her thanks. "She kind of made a secret escape on us, but it was worth it in the end. She's safe and sound now,"

Considering the situation they were in, _safe and sound_ was not the best terminology, but they'd make do with that. Uraraka smiled nervously, waving her hand with an awkward sense of glee. "Yeah, I had to sort out some stuff."

Sero sighed slowly with a frown. These mishaps in timing and getting news quickly from his comrades was what made his job so very difficult to deal with. Having to hear that a comrade had been injured to death weeks after the fact made him feel so out of tune he sometimes felt he wasn't a part of this guild anymore. Spending so much time away from the main headquarters made the spying brigade feel out of time most of the time.

"Well, it's good to have you here. It'll make things easier. I bet they have already told you this, but welcome back!" Uraraka nodded, thankful for his unexpected kindness, and suspecting she already knew who he was and his job, he skipped formalities. "Hagakure is waiting for us at our lookout. We should hurry and get there before the clan comes back from their delivery routine."

Yaoyorozu arched an eyebrow. "Delivery routine?"

Asui nodded. As a part of the spying team, she was more in contact with the brigade than average members. "The Jirous must be out of their lair now, as they act during nights and seem to come back during noon or so, right, ribbit?" Sero nodded. "So we should get there before they get back to the lair."

The captain of the operation nodded again, raising a finger and speaking almost in a proud manner, knowing he knew more than everyone else and _god_ , that was empowering. "The main trafficking gang comes back during noon to check in. Unless she has very important business out there, Midnight rarely goes out—all her information comes from outside. She sorts out all business inside the lair and moves the pawns around from there. Moving her out of her spot won't be easy."

This came to confirm that Midnight only went out for very important operations and that fetching Jack from there could actually be more important than they had expected. Todoroki spoke up. "How do you plan on doing that then? I guess we will have to get past her and her gangs to get to Jack."

Yaoyorozu tensed up when her partner brought Jack up. "Did you see Jack get in the lair?"

The boy sighed and shook his head. "Not really, but Hagakure heard guards talking among themselves about _the little Yuuei mistress coming back_ , so we guessed it was her. Asui sent me an emergency message letter to watch out for her, but we didn't have enough time to look into her situation inside the lair." everyone's shoulders dropped down, again. "You're right about that, Todoroki, we have to get past Midnight to get anywhere. She seems to have everything within arm's reach."

Kirishima slapped a hand on the boy's shoulders. "You sure have everything under control there!"

The boy sighed again. The amount of sighs he was letting out in such little time was worrysome. "Not really. I mean, we guess we do, but they have been close to catching us sneaking in several times. Not even Hagakure can get past those woman's hawk eyes. We have a general floor plan of the building and know ways to get in, but it'll be harder now since we are more of a crowd."

Bakugou shed a proud smirk. "After how long it took you to find the building, you sure have some nice data in so little time."

"I think you are misunderstanding the situation." explained Sero, thinking back to when they stumbled with the dreary building. "We did find the building itself a while back, but we had to make sure this was the right building among others scattered around this huge forest. We have spent more time in figuring out if this was the right building more than actually looking for buildings. It took a lot to figure out the floor plans, but thanks to Asui's maps, we got to work quicker."

Uraraka looked at Asui in question, and the mutant alchemist nodded. "Remember those things I found at the laboratory? There were maps in between some recipes and stuff. They seem to be making tunnels underground this forest for a quicker travel from the Capital to the actual lair."

"Yeah. The building seems to be very small in the surface, but it is enormous beneath the ground. It's more of a deep building dug underground than a tall structure." explained Sero. "The interesting stuff anyone would want to steal is secure under the surface, but that's not what we are going for."

Kaminari's eyes squinted in worry. It was fearsome to hear the Jirou clan had such power to be freely making holes and tunnels under everyone's feet, blind to the public. "They are far from stopping, aren't they? What about the golems, though?"

"We think they might have some sort of makeshift factory deep under the surface. They use very figurative speech among each other to refer to floors and all that, but we're figuring they will also use the tunnels to transport the golems when they are made in the lair. However, the sketches Asui sent us confirm that the main lab is the one you guys got into."

Uraraka shuddered intensely at this information. Thinking that the horrifying room they found could be multiplicated in the span of weeks and that deaths would only become larger made her knees weak. How could it be that such terrible scheme was being carried out without the Council batting an eye, or even just making profits out of it? God, it was so frustrating to not be able to do anything about those.

Well, she _could_. But that was too _complicated_.

"We have to work quick and sneak in. It's gotta be a clean stab into the lair and leave as few traces as possible. This is not about destroying the facility, but killing the queen. Once Midnight is off the game, then the clan will fall apart evenly."

Sero failed to realize that he was talking about Jack's mother, most likely, and with this newfound information the truth about having to kill Midnight felt harder to swallow. Nobody knew how Jack felt about her mother, as she had run away from her once to come back again. Maybe Jack was trying to warn Midnight of the offenders that were coming, thus the general commotion Sero spoke about within the clan. Still, would Jack accept that her comrades murdered her mother, no matter how dark her plans were?

They were too deep in to stop and think about that, but their consciences knew it wasn't the best thing to do. Was there any other way, though? They knew the answer was no.

So with that in mind, they had to part. "Can we leave, then? I'd say it's getting close to noon and sneaking in won't be easy."

When Sero made sure everyone had packed their weapons, he nodded and waved at them to follow his lead. The group started to move smoothly between the trees, leaving their makeshift camp behind while Sero explained the situation. "We have Hagakure and Aoyama in charge of surveilling the zone of entrance. At this hour, there shouldn't be much activity in terms of entering and exiting the facility, so we should be able to walk around without many soldiers around."

Uraraka had expected Bakugou to ignore what had been discussed earlier and bark at Sero about how incoherent it was that such a mighty organization had no guards whatsoever outside, but all he did was nod and listen. Uraraka had to keep reminding herself that Bakugou was trying to change and putting him under that light in her mind wouldn't help the situation—not hers with him or just how the guild perceived him for that matter. She slapped her cheeks in frustration.

"Are all valuable goods really that deep within the underground parts that they don't need much guarding?" asked Asui. It was a smart way of planning it, yet it sounded too risky. "It sounds suspicious."

"Again, Midnight has the whole land under her fist. I bet you have realized the many clearings in this land are quaint, and it's hard to guide yourself around here without knowledge of the territory. People always end up in those clearings one way or another, but since not many people get in here either and all goods are underground, she doesn't need many guards. If anything, the guards are _inside_ the building." he pictured the facility vividly, how all security formations were written in stone and strictly planned to not let anyone in.

"So the issue is going into Midnight's office unnoticed?" asked Kirishima, who was cleaning his knives as he walked by Kaminari. He was met with a nod. "What if Midnight isn't there?"

Sero had a plan for that. "Well, she _should_ be there. But in case she isn't, we'll go to destroy the important machinery she could have and damage the clan not entirely, but economically. It will be more of a step-by-step thing instead of the clean stab we are going for, but either will work fine. Destroying the underground factory is pretty important too. We never know who could find the machinery in there."

Midoriya sighed. "Well, as long as we can do some damage, we're good to go. We purposefully left the laboratory unscathed in case they traced our steps and alarmed them. For now, they don't know we know anything—or so we hope."

For once, Bakugou had listened to him and was following his words. "Yeah, gotta make sure those assholes don't follow us. They got better business to mind than a few ants like us, so that's already to our advantage."

Except that Uraraka knew it was never that easy. After all, Jack had once been a valuable asset and it was possible the clan had reeled information out of her, which was a really bad disadvantage. After her showdown with Midnight ages ago, she had felt like a shadow had been looming over them. Gunhead was associated with Midnight after all, and her master was or had been associated with Gunhead, it was like a net of influences that was watching them from afar.

It scared her enough to make her go cold, but fueled her enough to keep going.

"We'll still need to be careful." retorted Asui from Uraraka's side. "We aren't sure of what tricks they got in their sleeve, ribbit. Midnight is _not_ stupid, and considering she has ties with Gunhead it's likely she is expecting us." said the alchemist, voicing the same thoughts Uraraka had had. Her eyes went to Uraraka. "That could be the reason why Gunhead took you away that time. Maybe he wanted to confirm what we knew about the Jirou clan."

Uraraka's brows were furrowed in confusion. "He never asked me about the clan, though."

"All he needed to do was interrogate you about what we were doing there. Jack is at this point one of his comrades, so he didn't take her. It's likely Jack actually told him what we were doing at some point. But I'm trying not to think Jack would uncover us that way up to when she ran away." responded Asui, making her brunette partner nod. It was better to not accuse Jack of past events now. "We can't think they aren't expecting us. Critical thinking is always a better choice."

The red-haired hunter behind them gave Asui a kind smile, appreciating how she was planning so ahead of time. "We shouldn't be tricked into panic, though. Can't be trembling when we get in there."

Bakugou spoke up from a bit ahead, walking in front of Uraraka. "No cowards allowed in this fucking ship. If anybody's gonna get cold feet you better run away, 'cause this place is gonna be set on fire." his words were menacing and rather over the top but it was true that the clan was rather sensitive to heat, hence why they were always seen wearing cloaks during sunlight.

"How are we going to divide into teams, though? It wouldn't be very smart to barge in suddenly with a ton of warriors like us." asked Todoroki, helping Yaoyorozu polish her blade as they walked. Uraraka wrapped her big cloak tighter around her, feeling some breezes push by them. "I'm guessing we will split up?"

"Obviously." retorted Sero, shaking his head with a smile. "Some of us will go search for Midnight, others will look for Jack and the factory chain and others will stay out and take on any gangsters that might want to ruin the fun. The moment we are discovered, Midnight will probably send a troop to wipe us out, so we can't let her surprise us or let us be caught."

Midoriya looked behind him to speak to Sero. "Have you guys planned the teams, then? You didn't seem to know Uraraka was alive, so…"

The boy looked at Uraraka with an apologetic smile Uraraka shrugged off. Not her fault Sero's job kept him away from relevant news most of the time. "That's the issue. We will have to improvise a little in that regard and move you guys around some, but I'll think of it on our way there. We were counting with Jack until yesterday as well, so it's gonna take a bit more to figure how to fit you in now."

Uraraka shook her head. "It's okay. I don't mind being in either team."

However, that barbarian always had to say something and when he sighed gruffly, her cheeks puffed. "She's as blunt as a foot on a puddle. Don't get her in the sneaking team." although he knew she _could_ do it, after all she was an assassin, he didn't want to risk the operation. "Unless she's useful for that, she'll be better to wipe troops of enemies out. Trust me on that."

Even when he was insisting on being rude, something nice had to slip out, making her heart flutter in what she felt was a pathetic blush of something akin to a child being embarrassed. She hated this. She hated feeling so flustered when he said something relatively nice. He had just called her a big-scale murderer but he was acknowledging her abilities vocally, which had never been a small feat. And for that, she smiled privately.

She then remembered again the mess they had to talk about and her nervousness came back in full swing.

In fact, at that very same moment, he looked behind him to lock his eyes with her over his shoulder, as if checking if she was doing okay. She _was_ alright, wasn't she? In reality, she was trying to trick herself into thinking she was fine mentally speaking, that she wasn't nervous and that considering her issue with Bakugou was basically done (even before it started), but a part of her was holding out and hoping he'd somehow make it work when she now couldn't come up with a solution.

 _Where were they going?_

But she still felt like they were done. A part of her knew it was better to start letting go now. Uraraka avoided his concerned gaze by starting to talk with Asui, masking her nervousness with a trembling smile. The brunette heard a low _tch_ of annoyance and the steps of the ashen-haired, brazen leader got heavier and quicker, his frown evident even for the people behind him.

Uraraka sighed, her eyes dropping.

"No need to make the air any tenser, you know." came a voice from behind, with an evident smile in his face that clearly told he understood. Kirishima put his knives to rest. "I know Bakugou's a bit of a jerk but he's nervous as heck right now." except that this was not the reason why they were so dodgy around the other, but Uraraka still appreciated the support. "Give him some time to cool off. Being a leader at this moment must be weighing hard on him."

Well, they wouldn't be talking much about it because she knew she'd be leaving sooner than everyone expected. Her fingers tangled in the back of her head, and out of habit, she started combing through her hair. It was obvious Bakugou and her wouldn't have that much time to talk it out before she set off into an adventure of her own to most likely never come back. Nobody was aware of this fact, yet presumed her and Bakugou would end up together as if destiny would force everything to be alright.

Sometimes, time fixed things. Other times though, it only made things worse.

However, it could be true that Bakugou was feeling extra edgy today, so she would let him off her hook for now and focus on the mission ahead, too. Priorities had to come first, and Midnight was definitely and sadly a priority. Maybe if they survived the battle and had time to tell the story, they'd be able to decide if they'd have a story of her own. Uraraka was holding back from acting out of panic and approaching him to finish this story once and for all.

She could sense their relationship was bound to be killed. A part of her wanted to take the blow as soon as possible.

"Uraraka, are you listening?"

"Eh?" she looked at Midoriya, who was walking a bit slower to match her pace. Bakugou and Sero were a bit more ahead. "Sorry! Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just also kind of stressed about this. I'm scared for what could be lying ahead of us."

That wasn't true but it wasn't a lie, either. Saying she was scared was a bit of a stretch. She was nervous, but after all she had went through this felt awfully normal. It was like her mind was too overwhelmed with thoughts to let such big fear in—the same fear that sparked in Midoriya's eyes when she mentioned the issue ahead of them. Everyone had their heads in the game, clear enough to focus and have proper feelings about it. Uraraka felt weird for having such disoriented focus and she was _praying_ she'd snap out of it by the time they got there.

"We will be okay!" insisted Kaminari, an arm around her shoulder in what seemed to be a bit over the top camaraderie. "We got each other's backs, and we'll also get Jack out of there. We have always been fine, so no need to worry!"

Another hand ruffled her tousled locks. Surprisingly, Todoroki was looking down at her with a quiet smile. "Yeah. As soon as we have faith in each other, we'll be alright. Just gotta focus on not being killed."

It was such a shame that these caring and warm people were the ones she would have to leave behind so heartlessly. Maybe, deep inside, they knew she wouldn't be around forever and were basking in her presence just as much as she was with them, something that their leader was not really doing—even if unbeknownst to them they had certainly basked in each other's presence for some time last night.

Maybe they did understand.

And maybe, that made her feel a bit more at ease, making a bashful yet happy smile show in her expression, eyes twinkling anew.

They didn't realize that Bakugou was watching the entire thing with a fierce frown of distaste adorning his features, yet he snapped his head and eyes back into place a second later. "How much 'til we get there? I'm getting restless. And these fuckers won't stop making noise, I wanna chop my head off."

That sounded more like old Bakugou, but Sero couldn't blame the drop in his mood. Seeing his crush ignore him so blatantly and the mission of facing a national criminal for the last time had to be stressing and heavy in the eyes of a passionate leader like Bakugou was. The spy gave Bakugou a brave pat on the shoulder, which the blonde didn't flinch away from.

"We're getting there. I can hear the river already, so we're almost there. Hagakure should pop up at any moment to give us instructions. With this change of people, she might be able to come up with something quicker, she's a pretty good strategist." well, Bakugou knew the people he recruited. He coughed, his throat felt dry. "But I think she might send Uraraka with the rescue team, I don't think you want her facing Midnight with fire after what happened last time."

If with last time he meant seeing her basically commit suicide in a ball of fire soaring across the cave ceiling to kill his mortal enemy—then yes, that was a pretty traumatic event that Bakugou didn't wish to recreate.

Bakugou's words were thick with a sincerity he wished he had showed that night before the final battle. A sincerity Uraraka had probably asked for badly with her eyes, but not with her words. And thus, a tragedy had been born. "Let's try to not let the reformed terrorist fight much. I have this weird ass feeling her fight with Midnight is more personal that it should be."

A tragedy that, surprisingly, had come back with a vengeance. One with the taste of raspberries and sunlight that he was still trying to keep safe from the howling winds that attempted to destroy her life in the middle of the night. It was hard to keep that little flame she had ignited inside of him alive, the light of an innocence he had long ago lost—yet now that he knew the warmth she had brought along, he would fight to shield it from the darkness.

He just needed to keep it safe. He'd offer his body as a shield if it meant keeping it safe. If it meant keeping _her_ safe. But Bakugou knew she would be alright, was she away or by his side. It was just frustrating to know he couldn't do much about her future absence.

His mind had trailed far off the beaten track, but he was focused enough to hear Sero retort, "Personal? In what way?"

Despite having lost consciousness in the middle of the battle, he had been told Uraraka had fiercely fought with that woman and left relatively unscathed. Still, after how wounded _he_ had been and judging by how Asui had described the passionate fight, Uraraka would undoubtedly take it upon herself to both get revenge and finish off the mission she had been tasked with. All by herself.

She had this awful habit of taking all burdens by herself and shouldering everything on her own. Bakugou didn't know what her past had been before they met, but he had been able to feel this glaring familiarity with the way she talked and the way she moved. He had thought that she was just another regular townsfolk in search of shelter, without any special qualities to make her stand out. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Just like she liked his fiery determination and the loyalty that hid beneath all the fur of his wolfish heart, a wounded yet pure, raw heart that nobody had ever seen, he was in love with the way flowers bloomed at her wake.

"Uraraka and Midnight have fought in the past, and she's got some sort of personal business to sort out with her." he refused to mention she had been the one to save his ass back there. It was frustrating enough to know that Uraraka's business with her probably had to do with him not withstanding that necromancer's spell and being hurt. "I'd rather we took care of it instead of her. This is a cooperative business. It doesn't matter who kill the spider, and making Uraraka feed her resent towards her…"

"You don't want to feed that side of her, right?" completed Sero, nodding with an understanding smile. "That side everyone has."

"Uraraka's… not a killer. She might be a powerful little bitch, but she's not a murderer." explained the blonde, eyes closed as his hand caressed the handle of his weapon, which had been perched on his back. He seemed to be doing it out of a need to relieve his stress. "She's got the title of assassin, and she's told some of our people she's done several amushes with Shinsou on several gangs. She can hurt, I bet she could kill, but I don't want her to burden that. She's got enough problems in her mind to now shoulder that."

"I think you're kind of exaggerating, man." the leader fulminated the spy with a glare that nowadays had a lesser effect on his peers than he'd like to admit. "Uraraka was gone for a long time. Surely she must have done it at some point. All of us have, we just don't think of it—just act out of defense, or to get away with what we want. I can't believe Uraraka hasn't done it too."

Bakugou thought of her to be pretty badass, but for some reason the tag of a killer did not match with that angelic face of hers. "Still, Midnight's too much of a personal case to not leave a mark. After she gets her revenge, Midnight will still chase her. She will chase the mind of any unexperienced killer with enough conscience to not forget. And Uraraka's too considerate to not end up regretting staining her hands like that."

Sero couldn't really deny that truth. And he could now understand why Bakugou didn't want to burden her with that extra charge. In fact, judging by how strong his grip on his weapon had become, it felt like it would be the leader who would carry the deed out. How surprising. What wasn't a surprising was the fierce frown crowning his angered features.

Sero heard the currents of the river swirl even closer, wildly crashing against the shore. It was as if the Jirou blood shed into the water was rebelling at the guild's stride, treading closer and closer to the building between forests. "We're getting there. The vigilant team should go up some rock stairs to meet up with the rest, but we'll get to that in a minute. Hagakure should appear any second now."

In fact, it was only a matter of moments before a pair of black boots swung into the path from a branch above the path. She had been sitting on the tree before the main path for a while now, but nobody noticed her presence until the thud of her boots collided with the dusty path. "Hey there guys!"

"Jesus fucking Christ." murmured Bakugou when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of them. "Can't you be a bit more cautious?"

"I _was_ being cautious!" her tone was almost chastising, yet she was too sweet of a girl to get much into it. "Good to see you all! Was the walk too long? I have some water at the base if you all need some."

Sero denied the offer even though some of his peers could very well use that water. "We're good. There have been some changes to our plans, though, so you might need to come up with a different plan this time."

"What do you-? Oh my, Uraraka!" she cheerful girl jumped from Sero to be in front of Uraraka, who flinched back a little in impression. Hagakure's enthusiasm was a bit uncalled for considering the situation they were in, but that lightheartedness was a bit necessary to cut the tension among the group. "I was told you were deceased! It's good to see it was nothing as big." her gladness to see her was mildly short-lived. "Is this the change you were talking about?"

"Yeah." responded Sero, looking around to find the path back up to the lookout. He looked unfamiliar with this part of the Jirou territory. "Jack isn't here, either, so we gotta fix that gap too."

"I guess that confirms what we were suspecting." said Hagakure, letting out a sigh that wasn't as cheerful anymore, knowing that one of her companions was in fact missing… and probably betraying them. "But it's alright. We'll try to get Jack back with Uraraka's help. I feel putting her in Jack's spot would be a bit too much so… I need a moment."

Suddenly, Kaminari's voice echoed from behind. His voice sounded worried, almost testing the waters and fearing he'd say something wrong. "Guys… aren't you all looking into Jack's situation wrongly?"

Evidently, everyone turned around to look at the bashful blonde who was fidgeting with his weapon with a small smile, now a bit less willing to speak his mind when everyone was seeing him touch that topic and apparently trying to make a statement that could be extra sensitive. Yaoyorozu frowned and looked at her companion in concern. "Explain yourself."

Her tone sounded more chiding than she had definitely intended, and it made Kaminari and probably the rest of the gang go tense. "I mean… you guys realize she left by herself, right? I am the first one who doesn't want to think badly of Jack, but she has left willingly for all we can see."

It was weird to hear Kaminari out of everyone say this. He was pretty close to her for what Uraraka had briefly seen—though Kaminari seemed close to everyone, but at least Jack seemed more in sync with him and Yaoyorozu than the rest. That being said, all friends had the right or actual obligation to call somebody out when they did something wrong, but it was weird of him to do it under this light.

Midoriya directed an almost stern statement at him, but there was a slice of kindness and understanding in his voice—he was Midoriya, and he could never not be somewhat kind… that is, unless somebody threatened his family and his friends. "Jack is our comrade, and we trust her. However, she owes us some explanations about this, and we won't directly accuse her of treason that way."

Yaoyorozu spoke again, following up what he said. "It could be that her family is manipulating her into coming back now that something could be coming. Midoriya, could it be that they know we are coming?"

"It _could_ be, but we didn't leave hints behind us that implied so. We didn't touch the lab, or made that much of a fuss other than the attack on the shore. Uraraka and I sneaked into one of their ships but I doubt they realized this. It's just highly unlikely they can see us coming." explained Midoriya.

Uraraka turned pensive. "Well, that is unless somebody warned them. Considering that we were making a bit of ruckus at the tournament and that fight against the stingray golem, it's likely they know we know something is going on."

A clap of silence as everyone gave it some thought, but as brash as ever, Bakugou interrupted. "Nah." Uraraka turned to him with a narrowed stare, opposing him instantly. "They got better business to do. I also like being ultra aware of our dangers, but that doesn't matter now. We have to plan how to get in regardless." for once, Uraraka actually gave him that with a nod, admitting he was right, and he turned from Uraraka to the girl spy, who had remained silent in deep thought. "Got anything?"

"I think I know how we can organize the sneak attack, but we're gonna need to be patient and, above all, silent!" she crossed her arms, or at least it looked like that. She was completely invisible to everyone, so that made reading her difficult in a new whole level. "It shouldn't take us much to get Jack out if possible and dismantle the lair. It should be a clean attack, but if we can take Midnight down, then we must."

Uraraka felt like she was a soldier in line for a war and the feeling it gave was that of a sinking stone in a dark, bloody lake. It was as if now that she was _there_ , in front of their captains and near the actual criminal nest, the war was actually real and frightening. The fear was soaking some with some retardation, but the feeling of dread was all the same.

After that brief explanation, Hagakure explained the division plan. Uraraka, Kaminari and Kirishima would sneak into the basements of the lair, where the prisons and small factories were hidden in order to dismount the whole operative basis of the lair. Hagakure thought they had enough potential to defeat the few workers and guards that were there, as Midnight was the only authority supposed to be there at the time. Bakugou, Todoroki, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu and Asui would be in search of Midnight and any valuable objects that Asui could verify to be dangerous.

Mina and Tokoyami along with Iida would guard the entrance once the two teams had sneaked in, making sure that nobody would escape or get in. The exploration convoy would be watching for newcomers from the forest, with the help of Tokoyami if it was needed. "We can't let anyone escape our sight or the facility once they spot us, or it will be over for us. Midnight has guards in very concentrated positions all over the place and we are sure they have secret doors to go directly to Midnight's office. Haven't seen them in action, but the speed they move at is insane." explained Hagakure.

Kirishima rose an eyebrow, looking at Sero. "Have you guys gotten caught before?"

Sero sighed, recalling all those times in which they hadn't exactly gotten caught but had been a second away from being rotten meat. It was a shame those little victories or brushes with death weren't acknowledged often. "Well, let's say they have had their suspicions that somebody was around when we were starting to investigate this place and had to go report all too fast. We have had our various brushes with death, let's say."

Just as he expected, nobody paid much attention to that last statement and moved on from that topic, making the black-haired spy sigh again. Bakugou spoke up. "Well then, I guess that all makes sense. What have you planned to get into the fortress, though?"

They couldn't see the lair from there but Uraraka hoped he was exaggerating with that term, because _fortress_ sounded incredibly big for her, and searching for Jack and Midnight there would be torture. Hagakure pointed her index up as she explained her idea.

"Well, we need to take out the guards outside the entrance, which should be only two swordsmen if they aren't changing shifts, not that strong for such a big clan." it was so reassuring to see that the stealth team knew _so_ much about the lair's guarding shifts and whatnot, it gave a sense of tranquility. "There should be a few more guards at the hall area, and then the way downstairs or upstairs. We haven't had much time to see what's underground completely, but we know there are some nasty factories and jails below our feet."

That sounded like a big deal. In fact, if Uraraka focused, she could feel a tickling corruption beneath her, but it reached way below than what she had seen back at the Council's lab. It was silently chilling. "Is there anything interesting we should stop by at the hallway?" asked Asui.

"Not much." responded Sero. "The building itself is rather empty, it's all stone and little furniture, just like some sort of professional dungeon. The interesting stuff seems to be underground." at that, he looked at Uraraka, Kaminari, and Kirishima, who felt regarded at and saluted in response. "You guys gotta try to get Jack out of there, and if possible, stop whatever they are fabricating down there. Your primary mission is to get Jack out safe if possible. We can take over the factory later. We have to take their leader first."

"For that, we have to be coordinated when we are together." continued Hagakure. "When we take out the guards at the entrance, we can't make much noise, or they'll alert the guards inside. We can't let noise alert the guards that are deeper inside, so we have to be quick and silent about it."

Uraraka raised her hand. "What will we do with the guards, though?"

Sero arched an eyebrow. "As in, how we'll attack them?"

Bakugou didn't like where this was going, and recalled his conversation with Sero a bit earlier. In fact, the spy also spared him a glimpse. "Yeah. Do we have to only tie the workers down? Do we have to slaughter them?"

It sounded a teensy bit too graphic but to Hagakure, it was an actually good question. "As you see fit. It's important we take out all important workers and directors of the factory underground. I'm supposing there will be several generals or bosses guiding the crafting process down there, so it would be convenient to get rid of them as well."

"Then what should we do with the rest? Just knock them out?"

Midoriya nodded, trying to follow Hagakure's plan. "I don't think it would be any better to kill flimsy guards. After all, some could have been manipulated into coming, or by some sort of rapture. In the same way the Council was severely embezzled, we can't say what's the origin of the rest of the Jirou clan. As long as they aren't a severe threat, it's not worth it to shed blood."

Uraraka could instantly imagine what Bakugou was thinking. To him, sparing their lives that way was probably a way of showing weakness by letting the wimps go or an actual act of cruelty by showing them that they weren't even worth killing. She wasn't sure why she thought of Bakugou in that moment, but she did and she was curious about what he thought about this measure. Her eyes moved to look at him, almost in an instinctive fashion like that of a bee attracted to a flower, and found him to be pondering something.

She found out what that was two seconds later. "What if those little shits we spare somehow end up running away like we're trying to prevent?"

"That's for the squad outside of the fort to take care of, and in case they can't manage to hold them back, we'll strike them down from up the lookout. We won't let a single bee out of the hive, I can assure you that." Hagakure's voice was somewhat reassuring to hear, it felt like the spying brigade knew exactly what they were getting into, and that confidence was conveyed perfectly, giving the warriors a moral boost. "We should get going, now. I'm gonna need Mina and Kaminari to come with me to the lookout."

Kirishima realized that she was taking one of his teammates away from him, so he had to call her out on that. "Hold up, what do you need them for?"

Sero put a hand on Mina's shoulder, pushing her forward as Kirishima's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Uraraka and Kaminari dedicated him a knowing smile. "Don't worry about it, you'll see in a minute."

Hagakure pushed Kaminari and Uraraka could see the smile in her voice. "They'll join you in a sec! You guys get ready. If you walk a little bit ahead this faint path, there's a clearing behind that wall of trees. Wait while hidden behind those trees, we can't be seen just yet! Good luck out there, we're counting on you!"

With that, Sero waved and parted with the two warriors, letting the rest walk forward to what seemed to be an incursion off the beaten track—but if Sero and Hagakure were correct, there should be a clearing a bit ahead, and then, the actual Jirou lair. However, as they kept walking through the so called "wall of trees", they only met more forest. Bakugou was almost suspicious about the width of the forest, as there was no real path under their feet, just trees that seemed to lead nowhere.

However, Midoriya made them all stop with an arm swung to the side. "Sh. I'm seeing light. We must be getting close."

Indeed. A few streaks of light shone between the trees, giving view to parts of the clearing. Everyone was dying to run to the light and discover the so important building, like children running into a haunted house, but they knew better than to make noise and alert the guards and give out their position. Thus, they walked a bit slower and scattered across the last layer of trees to peek from behind them, observing the clearing with hawk eyes and a frown at the severity of the situation.

The building itself was just as relatively small as Sero had explained and it was hard to believe there was an underground jail and factory under their feet, seeing how crumbly and decrepit the two-floor stone building looked. It was all cobblestone, as big as the cottage Bakugou and Kirishima had investigated at the woods, with small windows spread on the walls with equally as creepy looking bars that made it look more like a prison than an actual criminal lair. Now that Uraraka thought about it, those correlations weren't mutually exclusive.

Also as expected, two guards clad in black uniforms were perched at the entrance. They almost looked like statues and in fact Asui had thought them to be that at first glance. Their swords were gleaming under the direct sunlight, giving them a fierce appearance. Nobody wanted to underestimate them no matter what Hagakure and Sero said about the matter, it was better to be guarded than sorry.

Uraraka gulped thickly at what those guards could be capable of. She couldn't deny they looked tough and scary, the Jirous seemed to have a picky, elegant yet dark taste. The scene was so silent and so utterly _tense_ in anticipation that it was almost taking them out of situation and making it all seem too surreal. Nobody had probably expected it to be like this, so methodical and… not grand, like, not a show-off spectacle of secret techniques and might.

Deep inside, everyone preferred it that way. It was safer this way, and in the end, just _better this way_.

"Everything's so silent." spoke Midoriya in a hushed voice, as if afraid of somebody coming from anywhere if he spoke too loudly. "What is the other convoy doing? They sure are taking their sweet time."

Asui interjected with that monotone voice of hers that somehow matched the situation so perfectly. "Can't expect them to be setting off fireworks and stuff when we are in a supposedly secret mission, you know. Let's just wait for them to actually-"

Uraraka heard the noise of a thread being tensed, and instantly panicked, ordering everyone with a hushed voice to "Duck and cover!"

Hurried by the urgent situation, everyone followed suit, hiding and crouching behind the trees in case anything big and spectacular happened. When 5 seconds passed and nothing was really going on, Bakugou peeked from one of the trees to deadpan with a frown. "Oi, what the hell…"

Just as he murmured those words, two darts flashed through the air to land straight on the guards' shoulders, who didn't have enough time to moan in pain as they limped on the wall and slumped to the ground, panting, and then unconscious. Everyone's heads surfaced from behind the trees to blink at the scene, flabbergasted by the smooth, silent attack, and frowning as everything went still for a moment or two in which nobody spoke a word, only waited for a signal to come out of hiding.

Mina and Kaminari jumped off the hill and landed on the clearing like feathers on the sea, and the whole gang observed them share a few words while inspecting the bodies. Mina went to the corpses to make sure they were K.O. as Kaminari beckoned at them to come, making the rest of the guild follow suit, walking in utmost silent to the sneaky archers.

"The coast is clear." confirmed Mina, giving the guards some pushes and smacks to make sure they didn't react to them, which they didn't. Uraraka feared for a moment that they could actually be dead, but the pink archer cleared any fear she could have. "They'll be unconscious for a while, depending on how they react to the nitoria dosis."

At this, the alchemist frowned with severity. She sadly couldn't scream for the sake of the operation but she really wanted to. "You gave them nitoria without the supervision of an alchemist? What were you even thinking?"

"We know it's a strong element, so we just dissolved it with sedatives. We just used it for its powerful characteristics." Kaminari winked an eye. "It ain't like I haven't listened to your lessons. Although… they'll have some nasty nightmares, that's for sure."

Uraraka remembered that somebody had told her Iida once experienced this, and now that she looked at him he seemed to be reminiscing about that experience. That must have been awful for him, and he probably didn't want anybody else, evil or not, to go through the same. He wasn't saying anything against it, though.

"Us three will guard the entrance, you all should start sneaking in before things get crazy. It has officially begun, now." said Tokoyami, walking to the main red doors before them. "These walls are thick as hell, so they won't hear us now. But they could hear us later."

"Right." Midoriya nodded and made everyone follow him, excepting Mina, Tokoyami and Iida who, as expected, would guard the entrance from the outside under the patient vigilant gaze of the spying team. The knight leader walked slowly and very carefully, fearing that any guard would pop out of nowhere. Everyone moved behind him, as if hovering in silence.

After this, they arrived to the corner of the fortress, where there were no windows, no guards, nothing but just cobblestone. The green haired boy turned to Uraraka, who had summoned her staff as if thinking she'd need to actually destroy anything. However, they didn't need that from her this time. "You gotta go up to the roof and sneak into the hallway. Opening the front door would be too blunt now, so you can float up to the roof and then down to the hallway."

Her staff disappeared with a puff of air, and she rubbed her palms with a naughty smile. "And I guess you want me to open the doors from inside after taking care of the guys inside?"

Bakugou held her back with a hand on her arm, but talked to the other leader. He was actually about to complain about how much of a blunt bitch she was and that while she was reliable, sending someone who was more silent could work better, yet the hard grip Uraraka got on his hand caught his attention before he could speak. "I'll be fine." she gave him a warm, confident smile. "Just have a little faith in me for now."

Well, Bakugou trusted her of course, but saying she was the most adequate one for the task was a bit of a stretch and they couldn't be playing risks here. But just because he didn't want her to think he was just being regressive and going back to distrust between them, he let her go and nodded for her to float up. "You better not mess up, Uraraka."

Asui glanced up the tall building. Her eyes reflected concealed concern. "Don't puke your stomach out when you get there. We need everyone nice and clean for the final round."

Uraraka nodded and without further ado, she removed her gloves to touch her shoulders and jump up, initiating her ascending. It had always been weird how slow she climbed, or at least how slow it seemed. She wished she had the wings to actually _fly_ instead of just hovering against gravity's desire. It was a handy ability that only came in handy at casual and very certain moments. The consequences of its overuse was far too severe and she still had some trouble controlling it, but after her time away with Aizawa and Shinsou, she had been practically forced to overcome those

Just as her master said, she had to master her innate powers before focusing on learning something new. But at times like these where she was in an extremely important mission, she kind of forgot about those breathing and focus lessons. And she was starting to get a bit nauseous now that she was three quarters up the distance. If she were to look down she'd see her guildmates as little dots, and the forest would be at her ankles' height.

It didn't take much time for her to leap up the edge of the fortress —because judging by its height it could very much be one —and kneel down to recover her breath. There was a higher tower a bit further, no windows, just a wall of cobblestone, which probably contained the other floors Sero and Hagakure talked about earlier. As she glanced at that tower while panting, she saw the hole her friends had mentioned and she gulped at the task she was about to face.

"Don't start wavering now…" her eyes were screwed shut in an uncanny show of nervousness. This task sometimes looked too big for her, but it wasn't the best time to get cold feet now and doubt herself. Everyone was relying on her, so she encouraged herself to keep on going. "C'mon Uraraka… move!"

With that, the brunette walked to the hole and peeked from above. Four guards were taking shifts to look after the main door, the windows at the sides, and the door that led to what she thought to be the underground factory and Midnight's office. They didn't seem to be reeled up, they all seemed to be calm and quiet, as if nothing was going on. Uraraka thought they would have heard the guards collapse earlier, but it was obviously better this way.

Her best bet was to carefully land with her gravity turned off, yet the guards would obviously see her and would start screaming and making noise, thus ending the mission for them. If she just leaped in without any precaution, the guards would still notice and she'd hurt herself, but there was less risk as she knew she could defeat them faster. Bakugou wouldn't have wanted her to take any risks, so she wouldn't.

It was scary how much she let herself be led by Bakugou's wishes, but he was giving her directions on how to go about it and she couldn't complain.

There was the water of the river nearby, yet she wasn't very confident on her abilities nor how much noise that would make. The easiest and best way around the issue was to somehow knock the guards out and silently open the main door, but how? She didn't have any sort of tranquilizer or bow to throw it with, nor a way to actually trap them, right?

Her hand curled into a fist, frustrated, and casually grabbed a thorny small vine that seemed to run within the walls of the facility. The sorcerer winced, but the pain was extremely short-lived as she got an idea—an idea which only shone brighter when she saw a tiny purple drop slide down her hand, apparently harmless in that small dosis, but plenty lethal when somebody like her needed to sneak into the witch's castle and knew how to use that stuff.

She focused all her energy and focus in her hands to make her magic penetrate through the creases and bricks of the walls, and soon enough, she felt that thorny vine move past her and into the hole of the hallway, silently creeping inside and bending to Uraraka's will. She could feel the whole plant of the vine shift and move around the walls and ground below her and most importantly, below the guards' feet.

Those bandits sure didn't know anything about botanics. She would take advantage of their carelessness around these little evils.

Soon enough, one of the guards cut a part of his ankle with a biggish thorn, and winced out in pain. "Fuck! We should cut those plants, they're a pain in the-"

Another one cut himself too while walking, and crouched down to clutch his bleeding ankle, which was dripping with a darker shade of poisoned blood. "We should get rid of these for a damn change. I know Mistress likes to make lipsticks out of these, but they're in the way all the time."

Wait, Midnight made lipsticks with actual poison? No human being would stand three or four drops of that poison— _nitoria_ poison, Uraraka finally remembered. A lipstick with that essence would need a few leaves with the poison or, in this case, several thorns to make a whole bar work. How did she apply it so casually? Something was off, but it wasn't important now.

Another guard seemed to have been stabbed by the thorn, but before he could wince at the pain the nitoria had inflicted, the sorcerer heard a _thump_ , then another. "Yo… guys?"

Of course they wouldn't have fallen this far down if Uraraka hadn't intervened to make the thorns move and attack the guards so sneakily, but they weren't bright enough to figure out that this was not normal. Two exact seconds later, another guard fell down, and so did the other. The only healthy standing guard was trying to shake the others awake, but before he could find out the truth and call for help, a beam of energy and wind knocked him to the wall.

Right before the guard could tear himself off the wall, a large non-poisonous vine pierced through the bricks to grab the guy's mouth and gag him with a force that was making him squirm on the spot. In that moment, Uraraka leaped from the hole and activated her quirk in time to fall smoothly on the ground, like a graceful fairy.

Yet, her eyes spoke anything but about fairytales, and the determined set of eyes this seemingly upbeat girl had wasn't chilling for its frost, but chilling for its steel resolve. When Uraraka got there, she curled her hand to make one of the poisonous vines surface from the ground and pierce into the guy's skin mildly, enough to poison him without him making a noise because he was gagged, and now that he was immobilized he wouldn't be running for help.

"Thank you for your sacrifice." whispered Uraraka with something the guy almost interpreted as respect. "We'll take over from here."

After those words, the guy slowly dozed off into slumber, and Uraraka jabbed him again with the poisonous thorny vine to make sure he wouldn't flinch or react—which he didn't, so she let the spell finally die and the swaying vine dropped to the ground. As the botanic machinery around her died down, she turned to the door and slowly started to pull them open.

They were heavy, but thank god the hinges were oily and didn't make any noise. She greeted them with a big smile, her hand bleeding a little, everyone staring behind her in amusement. "Done and dusted back here."

Midoriya walked in to inspect the bodies, almost impressed. "You barely made any noise that we heard, we could only faintly hear the guards talking among themselves. What did you do?"

Asui, as the skilled alchemist and botanist she was, determined the reason rather quickly with a quick combing of the room with her eyes. "She poisoned them. This forest is full of poisonous thorny plants. I guess this is where they take the several poisons Midnight uses for some spells."

Now that she thought about it, the guards had fallen down in a similar, yet lighter fashion to how Bakugou had fallen back then when they were fighting Midnight for the first time, and had had nightmares as well. Necromancers sure were scary little witches. "I didn't have much more to do… don't think they'll wake up soon. We should get going before they start stirring and making a fuss."

Asui was checking their vitals by Uraraka's side. "Their heartbeat is getting frantic, so they're probably on stage two already." nobody really understood what she said, yet she was most likely talking to herself so nobody really have it much importance. "We should be fine, but let's be quick. These guys seem to be buffy, so we don't know how much it'll take them to fight the poison."

"How long should it take a regular guy to naturally chase off the poison?" asked Kmainari, kneeling down by the passed out guard and slapping his cheek a few times.

"With this dosis? I'd say a few hours, not more than three. With such relatively small dosis, you can skip phases of the poison's effect. It'd be very rare to not be affected no matter the quantity." explained the mutant sorcerer, looking at Uraraka. "Good job."

Uraraka didn't think much of that, it seemed to be basic biology for anyone. Bakugou spoke up next. "Let's split up here and get business done. The sneaky part should be done here, it's time to make some noise now."

Everyone nodded their heads in unison, and the entrance defense part gave them an encouraging thumbs up to let them know they'd have their backs covered. With that, the groups started walking away deeper into the hallway, towards the big wooden doors, with Bakugou walking behind everyone to ensure there was no other guard trying to sneak behind them.

However, a step away from him walked Uraraka, who had now stopped walking to realize they were right before the beginning of the storm. This would probably be the only sane and calm moment they'd get to talk. As soon as this battle was over… there would be no more. Just darkness. From there onward the only way forward was to roll down a cliff and pray for the best, her feelings facing now a similar turbulence to that of a rollercoaster.

Uraraka looked at his back with a wounded expression, him walking away from her into the darkness, just in the same fashion she had walked away months, weeks, a lot of time ago. It hurt to think that this could be the last time they talked, and, on hindsight, leaving the issue unsolved would save them from unnecessary scars.

Yet, the way his hand swung back and forth as he walked taunted her. It was screaming at her to do something, yet she feared actually taking the step to try and talk things out. Maybe, he didn't want to finish things this way. Not even _she_ knew what she would say if she reached out and asked him for help. How could she ask for help? Could she even ask for it after all this time?

In an impulsive outburst of bravery, Uraraka took a soundful step forward and grabbed his wrist tight, making him turn around with an arched eyebrow, yet not annoyed in the slightest. "Can… could we talk before we move on?"

Bakugou wasn't used to this smaller side of her, and after a few moments of hesitation, he turned back to his guild, everyone looking at them with funny expressions. "Go ahead on your own and wait for us. We'll be there in a minute."

Their comrades shared glances among themselves before obliging, leaving the two lovebirds alone in the hallway with four guard corpses at their wake. When he turned to her with a questioning look, the girl let go of his hand to put hers on her chest. "Sorry to hold you back, I just… I wanted to talk to you."

His brows were crinkled in something akin to worry, weirded out by her sudden shrewd behavior. He thought they had come to the mutual understanding that they had to leave _that_ issue aside for now until they knew what would become of the Jirou guild. He could just see it in her face she wanted to bring the topic up, maybe to actually _talk_ things out and he couldn't say that was irrational, after all they hadn't properly had a talk about their kiss and what it entailed. They could be in completely different pages now without realizing.

It had been a bit stupid of him to think she'd wanna push it back to the aftermath of the battle, but then again, he didn't want to be clouded by what they would tell the other now. "Be quick, we gotta go now before those fuckers wake up."

Her fingers dug into the fabric of her uniform, past her cloak, as if gaining leverage on her now heavy heart. A small bead of sweat fell down her forehead. "I know, I just… I wanted to ask you something before we part ways. It should be very quick."

Yet, he waited. He was always the man who waited for her to speak up and Bakugou sometimes wondered how she had managed to turn him into this mess who was willing to sit still and see what people actually had to offer. Uraraka had somehow managed to tame him slowly and knowing her, she probably didn't know that her current silence was killing him, putting him on edge. She probably didn't know the great control she could have over him sometimes.

One day he'd snap out of it.

Her voice came out small, but it came out so unbelievingly flustered Bakugou thought he'd start blushing like some sort of high schooler. "W-Well…" her eyes were closed to not meet his and he was thankful for that. "What happened yesterday… I wanted to ask… well, you know it will be pretty difficult for us to work anything out and I _know_ this is not the best time for that, to ask, but... "

Bakugou was painfully aware that she was blatantly avoiding talking about her future departure and it somehow made the fact even realer than he could handle. Still, he kept it cool and tried to help her continue, yet his words were stuck in his throat. "Uh… yeah, it totally ain't the best time for that."

"I know! I know." she repeated, her voice breathy and it looked like she was having difficulty to talk. "I just… well, I wanted to ask if… do you…" this was the definitive answer she was looking for, and with that, she threw herself off into the ocean. "do you think it could… work? Do you think there's any way for us to sort this out if… I _don't_ stay?"

Two things happened in that precise moment that went down in a domino effect: Bakugou's breathing hitched as he landed his eyes on her frightened eyes and he _hated_ that sight of her because that thing that was hunting her wasn't any foe outside that he could fight against and protect her from—it was her fears, and in the end, those fears came from his feelings. He would have to fight himself to get rid of those fears plaguing her.

And when he realized his feelings were holding her back this way, that he causing her this pain and torment, he almost felt guilty. But he couldn't keep leading her on in a hopeless direction when he was certain they weren't bound to end this story unscathed. He wanted to be with her but… he knew there was no way out of it.

And as much as he wanted to keep her around fluttering around him and throwing sunflowers over his head, it was time to clip her wings before it was too late.

The way his eyes fell was already a frightening foretelling of what was to come, and it made her heart fall through her stomach and just splatter on the floor under her trembling knees. "I… don't know any solution to this. You'll be gone after this, I know, and… it's impossible to predict what will happen after that."

It was easy to expect Uraraka to come back after she finished her business out there, but he knew the truth: Uraraka couldn't stay in a branch for too long. She'd stay perched there for two seasons and, before the winter came, she'd be flying away to look for a bigger one. She wasn't that wounded girl who came to his guild in search of help, clutching her bleeding side in pain. But right now, her expression was terrifying close to that of a hurt bird being buried in snow.

It was as if something had _finally_ broken within her, and it hurt for him to think he knew that this wouldn't work from the beginning, deep inside. Both of them had been foolish to indulge themselves last night.

Uraraka let go of her dress to look at him with the expression of a lost, dainty bird that needed a direction to fly towards. He didn't know what to tell her, but he could only be drawn to that expression of hers and want to fight the seed he had just planted in her brain, that seed that would surely eat her alive and make her tremble in her step. She wouldn't forget about this. He wouldn't, either. And if he could, he'd chase after her and pray for her to stay so it'd work.

But it was better to discard a new beginning when the end was closer than ever. It was better to hurt her wounded hope now than to strain it on the long run. And it pained him more than it pained her, he knew. Or, at least, he thought.

Uraraka looked at him in silence, as if utterly broken and disappointed but she _knew_ this was coming, right? Then, why did she feel so destroyed by having her fears confirmed? Why couldn't she scratch this ugly feeling away? What the fuck was _this_ about? It was a no. They… they would never be together.

It was messing with her head. She was slowly coming back to her body after what seemed like minutes of silence feeling like hell, but now that she was thinking clearly after the first blow, she didn't feel alive. That spark he had provoked within her was robbed from her too quick, and she was now in a state of limbo, feeling alive but deadly walking.

Before long, she felt a hesitant, tender touch on her jaw, and she couldn't register the care he put on his touch before he was kissing her softly, as delicate as thin silk and cotton candy, bittersweet and tasting like the bitter, awful flavor of an unreachable victory, of an impossible end. She knew he loved her, or she _wanted_ to think he did, but that was not the point there.

They couldn't work. It was impossible. If he had no solution, if he didn't know what to do about them… then, what was she exactly doing there?

 _Tell me what to do_ , she wanted to cry, _tell me to stay._

Bakugou broke away way before she could answer to the small kiss, and he stroked her damp cheek, coated with a pair of stray tears. "I'll see you when this is over. Be careful, none of those bastards can give you a beating other than me, alright?"

And with that, he turned around to leave her in the cold, his attempt to make the situation lighter making her body go cold and under. The stone of her future grave was starting to feel increasingly real with each step he took away from her.

That was the end for them.

Their happy ending had been robbed from them before it even began, but Uraraka was strong, she would forget about it and… move on. So with that in mind, she took a step forward, further away from the world she had come to believe in, everything growing darker in her heart. As she realized that the answer to her prayers had been in front of her all along.

And with that, Uraraka ran out of things to believe in. With that, Uraraka's final path was finally _chosen_ , like light being shed into a forest after wandering aimlessly in the darkness. There was no other way around it, right?

And with each step she took away from the world she had come to believe in, she started taking steps into the slow, tender but chilling countdown in her heart.


	10. Ch âp t r 1 5

**[A/N ]: _LISTEN_** I thought updating would take LESS BUT NOW I'M HERE A MONTH LATER WONDERING WHERE MY PACE WENT JBHFJEWDKWOSLP but well YEAH so like we got uh 2 chaps away, 3 including this one, and the one now is a RIDE I guess but that's my opinion ahaha with some nice and pretty kaccha stuff owo please stay tuned I love you don't get cranky! :D

* * *

"Miss? The lord wishes to see you." came a voice from the cerulean double doors, making the girl turn from the window to look at her unexpected visitor. "Shall I let him?"

Ochako wasn't used to these fancy, posh mannerisms. She had just gotten to this land and she was already being treated as the princess, as a deity she truly wasn't, which for some reason irked her. The impersonal and distant treatment she received here − albeit attempting to be warm− was so different to what she was used to.

Still, the girl decided to act politely and responded with a simple nod. "Please, do."

Ugh. That voice was so not hers, and she hated it. But Ochako had decided to cooperate, so she had to suck it up and continue to allow this charade to continue. She wiped at her dress − she had been playing with some tigers at the backyard and had covered that new dress of hers with hairs and mud− and waited for her guest to come in. Soon enough, a man she had come to know very well opened the doors, and the guard left in his presence.

"It's good to see you here, Ochako. You're surprisingly docile after all this time." his tone, surprisingly, held no cruelty, but held the venom of a reality he knew would make her flinch. She didn't, yet the flash of recognition crossed her eyes in a spell. "It's not like you are here against your own will, though. I'm curious as to why you came here, of all places."

Ochako's eyes shrunk in something similar to a frown, yet not quite as angry. "I have the same enemy as you do, right now." which was partly a lie, but she would play along that line. "I know what you two did. I know my friends, and you are not one of them."

"Well, that's just mean to say." Ochako hadn't noticed the door was open until he leaned back to close it, and it made her feel somewhat intimidated. She wouldn't back down yet, because for all she had of a sweetheart, she could also take her fangs out. "I thought you would at least be friendly to us. Aliens like you aren't taken lightly in this territory, but you still came and offered your head to me as if it was worth something."

The girl saw the manipulation attempt there. "You have heard me: I know what you two did, and I know the worth in these hands. If you thought I'd come to this place where I should have been murdered in sight without a plan and an idea of what I was getting into, you are sorely mistaken."

The man was clearly taken aback by this, but he still remained stoic. "If you know what happened, then I'm not sure why you're here, out of all places." it was a good point, she couldn't deny it. Ochako wasn't acting in the most rational way as of now. "You could have gone anywhere, but you must have something to do if you didn't run away."

"I'm not a coward."

"I know. But you wouldn't be a coward for running away from a divided territory that only wants to use you. In the end, you're no more than a weapon."

Ochako know this, she had interiorized it, but it hurt to be stripped from your human nature to be defined as just a puppet that would be commanded to destroy people. She wasn't ready for whatever plans they had for her, but she was forcing herself to be strong and carry out what she had planned.

Her fingers curled to a fist. "I know.·

"Then why are you here?" asked he in almost a sneer, as if mocking her for dragging herself around like a broken doll. Ochako could understand his curiosity. "What would drive a loyal citizen to treason in the wake of war?"

This was the part where Ochako knew she had to act candid and sweet, and lower her somewhat grave tone to one of the child she truly was. With that in mind, Ochako folded her arms behind her back in what seemed to be an innocent posture. "They lied to me, told me I was part of their family… I hate them." she mustered all hatred and disdain she could despite how fake it sounded to her. It was a real statement to a certain extent.

"So, you're choosing to be our ally in war?"

It was weird to see this little girl stand idle before what should be his mortal enemy, and as the captain of that side of war, he couldn't help but feel anxious about this war weapon turn so suddenly in their favor. Everyone could take advantage of this, and he knew her reasons were true and she wasn't lying, but the sudden turn in events made him suspicious− but mostly, he felt earnestly curious about this special individual.

He would take advantage of her for all time he could. It wasn't like she could actually turn against them since she was in the enemy's territory. If she was clever − which he knew she was − she would behave. Those aliens would know soon who Earth belonged to.

"I want to get back at them for what they did." she mused in a lower voice, yet all it was showing was the pure desire to destroy those who wronged and destroyed her family− unbeknownst to the man before him, she wasn't speaking the whole truth, and given the context, that would play to her advantage. "I will avenge my family. And I will do anything to achieve that."

The captain of this village was well aware of the fact that she could kill him on the spot. Her stance was stoic, innocent, like the scarred child she was. A part of him, buried deep within, felt pity for her. As soon as he remembered he would win the war with her by his side, that feeling of sorrow would be washed away as quickly as it came. The brief flash of grief was replaced with a small smirk of confidence.

"You will get them if you work with us. You made the right decision the day you bowed your head to the winner of war." now, he stepped closer to her with this smirk that gave off weird, creepy vibes. Knowing Ochako would remain docile, he even dared grab her jaw and tip it up to meet her eyes, which were hooded with a will to remain peaceful. "My. This sure will be a stellar battlefield. You'll carve the path of success for our kind. A misguided human leading the next generation to war. Ironic, right?"

Even after so much turmoil and devastation, it felt utterly wrong to be called out in her true nature− because to her, she would always be the weird alien, and never one of the humans that also collaborated in her family's execution. At this point, she didn't know what she was, what she wanted to be, but of one thing she was sure: she didn't want to be either of them.

Without realizing, her small hand clasped around the man's wrist in a silent warning, not meeting his eyes but putting in enough force to let him know she wasn't completely docile. The man sensed the danger blooming in her grip, and he let go of her chin abruptly, making the girl immediately relax when the true danger was gone.

That man could be terrifying with one touch. The whirlwind of negative emotions she had felt with a single grab could pin down a whole life of traumas and lies. "You're one of us at the end of the day. And you know this."

He was setting up to leave before Ochako spoke up again, hands bawled at her side with a frustrated expression, knowing things wouldn't be as easy now. "I can be whatever I want to be."

Regardless, the man didn't listen to her, and as he was leaving, his eyes landed on a table right by the cerulean doors, his fingers tapping a few papers on top of a golden table, right by a world globe and a quill with ink. He traced small circles along the papers, looking at them with a deep glint she hadn't seen on him before. "My master told me about gods, about ties, how everything ties together and then unties, all up to the gods above us watching us… the Seven Devas, the rulers of time and space…"

Ochako perked up at this, remembering that man that had helped her out of the mud, how their tones were laced with a similar washing of anguish and a drop of fear. It made her shudder lightly, hands to her chest as he spoke about things she didn't understand yet.

"They watch us," he traced a sharp diagonal line. "they judge us," he traced another horizontal line. "they forsake us. Or they punish us." he drew another, forming a whole triangle, all whispered in a low voice. "They are always judging. Perhaps they are judging your actions now and relishing at your change of heart. I guess your faith is in your own hands."

His last sentence was used as a warning that didn't fully reach her, but as the door closed behind him, all Ochako knew was that her heart was filled with dread and fear that hadn't been there before.

* * *

"This place is… huge! How the hell can there be this much space underground?" Kirishima's voice was itching with both surprise and a small fraction of fear, peeking from a wall down a string of stone stairs.

The cold, cobblestone walls were dimly lit with a red undertone, the walls cold to the touch. However, the warriors weren't sure if this was due to the evident humidity or their hearts starting to freeze in intimidation. Ahead of them lied a long hallway with bars to the walls and a few guards standing around, who didn't seem to be human. Not much seemed to be happening, so the Jirous hadn't noticed their presence yet.

Uraraka, who was leaning against the wall behind Kirishima, was cautious when speaking. "How many jails are there? If there are too many guards, work will get even harder for us."

"I would say no more than 10, but there must be more of them ahead. I doubt such big organization has this few hostages." yet, it could also be said that this organization didn't specialize in rapture, but the point still stood. "There's a lot of light coming from the end of the hallway, and I can hear some noise."

Kaminari and Uraraka had also heard that racketing that came from afar, and the fact that they couldn't count the number of voices there made it increasingly frightening. How many people could there be there? They had no idea about what they would encounter once they stepped out, they were right before the starting line but starting had never been so frightening.

To put it briefly, they were starting to get cold feet.

But they hadn't gotten there for nothing. "Jack could be working back there, assuming the factory chain is at the end of the hallway. They could be doing weird stuff with her like what you guys saw at the laboratory− or even _worse_." the blond gulped, eyebrows trembling in fear for what could be happening to his comrade− because he still considered her a friend. "We need to step out _now_! We can't walk away from this thinking we were a second too late!"

His voice was no more than a whisper but it transfixed his worry perfectly. Uraraka nodded in agreement, talking with a shaky smile, because it was hard to give encouragement at times like these, but she knew every bit of encouragement helped. "Then what should we do? I'm sure we can pull through, but we must plan this carefully."

Kirishima and Kaminari looked at her with a somewhat impressed daze, then looked at each other in decision. "Kaminari and I are short-range fighters, but you can take them out from here and, if possible, do it silently again. Being silent isn't our biggest priority, but if we can avoid workers from the factory running in, those are points for us."

Uraraka's narrowed eyes peered from the wall corner, right under Kirishima. "How can I immobilize them without making a fuss, though? There is more people around, and the space is notably smaller." she pointed out, whispering as she analysed their surroundings. "If you want me to go a bit more harsh, then I might manage. But there is really nothing I can work with here…"

Kaminari urged her with a frown. "We need you for this! There must be something you can use− hey! Maybe there are vines under the wall?" he suggested, recalling how she had used them a few minutes back in time.

But even Kirishima knew this was impossible. "I doubt those vines reach this deep below the ground. We have gone several meters under already, not many plants would survive here, right?" Uraraka didn't have an answer as eloquent as Kaminari's was, so she just nodded. "There must be something in here. The air is hella humid, can't you do something about that?"

They talked about her magic as if it was some sort of twisted alchemy, which in a way, it was− but it was also more complicated than that. She could transform particles in her body into iron, make the air go frozen, change body temperatures, but this particular trick had a very specific problem. "I can't really control water that well, but I bet Asui could pull it off. Making them drown would also make water reach the workers and alert them, though."

"It could also ruin the goods they got back there." Kirishima countered, looking at her with a small frown.

"We don't know how water works in those processes, so it's better not to risk it. Remember our operation's motto? Sharp, clean, and silent. As if we were stealthy assassins."

Kaminari gave her a small smirk. "Which you are. So you gotta figure it out." Uraraka turned to give him a mean pout. "I don't mean to pressure you, but we got no time to waste! Think carefully!"

Uraraka glanced at her surroundings and in two seconds she came up with a pretty botched plan. She gulped slightly at how risky it was, though. After all this time, the sorcerer was becoming more and more aware of how bad she was at filtering her power. She was plenty creative as her profession asked of her, but she had always been better at going all in like she had with Bakugou ages ago. Holding back was so much more difficult for her, being the blunt, hurried person she was.

She just wanted to get things done. And this circumstance was no different.

Uraraka's hand landed flat on the slate wall, as if trying to feel any sort of disturbance within the surface. She found none. It was as silent as a graveyard, and it felt cold to the touch. "I will try to be silent." she pressed her one hand harder against the walls. "But don't judge me for whatever happens back there."

"What do you−"

Uraraka's fingers curled into the wall, and with a grimace, she canalyzed her magic through the creases of the bricks, morphing them to her liking. She visualized her surroundings, the monster guards fooling around, where the jails were, how the walls felt under her hands, the lights, the blood…

Suddenly, there was a gross, visceral sound in the air of something thick and wet splashing on the floor, and then several thumping noises as the bodies collapsed to the ground. Kirishima, who had seen everything, widened his eyes and let them quiver in terror at what the sorcerer had pulled off so quickly, seeing the blood soak the stone floor and flow into the creases of the bricks.

When Uraraka spoke, her voice was small. "Did I aim well?"

Kaminari decided to look as well when his redhead companion didn't answer, and his voice came out in a shaken murmur. "Holy shit! You just beheaded them!" he said, mixed with enthusiasm for how badass that was but also horrified at the awful display.

Uraraka stepped out of her hiding spot to stand right at the entrance of the dungeon, fumbling with her wrist and cracking her knuckles. The crimson liquid was reaching her boots, making her grimace internally, but it didn't stop her. In fact, it only made her want to go further. "We need to tread carefully and quickly." she didn't even spare a glance at the decaying monster corpses. "Somebody could come soon."

Kirishima and Kaminari guessed she had gotten used to this bloodshed during her journey with Shinsou, yet this looked oddly gruesome for the ways she usually used with humans. Back at the main lobby, Uraraka had spared the guards' lives and only poisoned them into slumber, whereas these guys were… they had had a gross, brutal execution that didn't seem to click well with Uraraka's gentle but fierce personality.

"You sure went all out with these guys." commented Kaminari, earning a glance from the sorcerer. "You weren't as kind as with those guys up there at the entrance."

She remained silent. True, she hadn't. But, in the end, those creatures that lied dead at her wake were just ugly, evil and simple monsters. To her, monsters had no heart. To her, monsters were just that, monsters, aliens, and she wouldn't hesitate to execute whichever monster that stood on her way. She _despised_ aliens, she _hated_ monsters,

It didn't seem right to think that. Were those _her_ actual thoughts?

Uraraka shook that little nagging thought away and continued walking. As she did, she realized with a great surprise that most cells were empty, and that the few people who were there were… actual _children_. One cell called her attention so much she turned in her step to see a small crowd of little kids cowering in fear upon seeing her, a bigger girl protecting the other three smaller ones. Still, she looked as terrified as the smaller ones did.

Kirishima stopped before them, too. "What's up with them? Did we scare them?"

Kaminari stood by Uraraka, looking at the children in slight worry. "I guess seeing a man be beheaded before you kind of sucks. Do you think the Jirous have touched them?"

The hunter's eyes sauntered down to see a few poorly hidden wounds on the girl's legs, who was growing more and more anxious the more time the warriors stood there. "The kids look feisty. They probably fought back and got a beating." he took a small step forward and gripped the bars. "Yo! Are you kids alright?"

"Back off!" shrieked the girl that protected the rest, fiercely scowling at them in a not so threatening glare. "We already gave you what you wanted! What else do you want from us now, huh!?"

Uraraka's eyes widened. Kaminari tried to explain themselves. "Be quiet, missy! We're here to take you guys out! Do we really seem to be some sort of mafiosi?"

A kid from the back perked up at the question. "Well… you guys look tough and… we've been here for so long, we don't want to be beaten up anymore." the other kids agreed. All of them had peculiar red or white hair and blue eyes, whereas the bigger girl had white hair and red streaks. Uraraka guessed they were around 10 years old, and their eyes were awfully familiar to her somehow.

"Please, let us out. We've been trapped down here for months after our dad… he…" the other boy's lips trembled in what seemed to be the reminiscing of a terrible memory. Uraraka felt sorry for them. "Please! We want to see mom again… he used us as stepping stones!"

Kirishima arched an eyebrow but was quick to hide his skepticism from the kids by turning to his comrades. "Do you know what they are talking about?"

The girl that was serving as a barricade for the rest stepped to the jail bars, her expression more relaxed but by all means not less urgent. "We need to get out of here. It's been so long since we last saw sunlight. Could you please take us out?"

Uraraka offered them a sweet smile and kneeled down to stand under her height. It was weird to see somebody with the title of _assassin_ be so kind to a child. "We'll take you guys out and I'll heal your wounds." still down on her knees, she looked at Kirishima. "Can you break the bars open? I don't want to spend much magic before we get to the real deal."

If Uraraka was correct, Kirishima's ability made his body get harder than steel. He had showed her the very first day she came to that guild and it seemed like he could do it effortlessly. On cue, Kirishima's arms and hands hardened to the point they were sharp shards of rock, making her nod as he complied to her wish.

"These bars look nasty and rotten. Man, this can't be a sanitary environment for children." his hand wrapped around the bars, and the girl was prompted to pull away from them in case he decided to do something crazy. Soon enough, his hard skin was piercing through the obsidian bars and cracks showed up. "I'll probably have to ram in after I weaken these little guys."

Kaminari looked concerned about this idea. "Can you really do that?"

"Those bars look weak and bitten by the humidity here. It shouldn't take much more than a severe hit to destroy them." theorized Uraraka, running a finger down the rotting bar. "But it's good he is testing their endurance. We don't want a shattered Kirishima, do we?"

She said it with a light tone that still alarmed Kirishima. "I wouldn't break so easily! But… yeah, I think I can manage." he stretched his shoulders and took a few steps back. "Kids, stay far! I don't wanna hurt you, so back off!"

And with that, the boy ran straight for the bars with a gust of cold wind, ramming through the bars and making the cell's imprisonment shatter with the delightful noise of bars falling apart and breaking under the boy's assault, who crashed against the wall and landed with a hiss of pain.

Kaminari now realized that they had made an alarming amount of noise. They had been so moved to save the children that none of them dwelled on the secrecy of their mission.

The kids seemed mesmerized at the hole that had been pierced between the bars, and after so much time behind bars, they ran out of the cell with renewed joy as Uraraka urged them to come to her, green light issuing from her hands. While she healed the several bleeding wounds of the little children, Kaminari went in the cell to check on his friend. "Yo, dude."

"I'm fine." he mumbled, getting up and moving a bit the arm that had hit the bars. It hadn't hurt as much as he had expected. "It just stings when I overuse my ability, but I'm fine. Just peachy."

A few feet away, Uraraka's hand hovered over the girl's belly, where she had a pretty nasty bruise. "This one must have hurt a lot. Does it feel better?" Uraraka's demeanor was serious during this operation, but the kids didn't need that face of hers when they were scared to death like they were now. So instead, she tried to remain sweet and tender. "Do you know if there are any other kids around here?"

The girl inched a bit closer to the magic treatment, and Uraraka took the hint to intensify her cura. Then the kid answered her question. "We haven't seen kids be taken here, but we know the mistress is here. The mean woman took her here yesterday."

Uraraka guessed this _mean woman_ was Midnight, but "Wait, mistress? Who is this mistress you are talking about?"

The little white-haired girl took Uraraka's hand and attempted to make her walk with her, so the sorcerer got on her feet to follow the girl as they sort of scampered through the hallway, stopping a few cells down. She pointed at the inside of the cell, and once the brunette also looked in, her heart started beating faster.

"Oh my God, Jack!" her hands gripped the bars that concealed the unconscious hunter from the outside, trying to break them absentmindedly. Jack was awfully idle and there were faint traces of blood scattered across the cell's space. The way light was so dimly thrown towards Jack's body made it look like there had been a murder there.

Uraraka prayed for it not to be the case.

"Midnight took the little mistress here and tossed her in. The noise that did was super gross." complained she, scrunching her nose at the memory. "My brothers were asleep when they took her here, it was super late." Uraraka tried to look further into the cell, but only darkness came through. "Can the rock guy take her out? She looked like a kind girl. She doesn't seem to belong here."

The girl was absolutely right. While Jack's looks matched this dumpster, her heart was too golden to be tarnished by the darkness under all the rubbish that Midnight had built out of nothing. Uraraka's hands started growing cold, but upon seeing she was letting her feelings take over, she let them heat up again, to the point the little shards of ice were melting along with the rust of the bars.

Uraraka, again, stopped herself from overusing her magic, and tried to think of any other way. Kirishima was probably done for now, she could hear him talk about how he would have to save his strength for later. Uraraka had to reach Jack and cure all her potential injuries. She couldn't smash the bars open like Kirishima had. The only way to enter without potentially hurting Jack was to be gentle.

Uraraka's hands started steaming again, and she grabbed two bars decisively. Soon enough, the metal hissed in response, blistering the brunette's skin. "What are you doing?" asked the girl, a bit concerned.

"I'm bending the bars open." retorted Uraraka, grimacing a bit and biting the inside of her cheeks. She had never applied this direct pleasure to a surface like this, and the pain she was feeling was all but inconspicuous. "Go tend your brothers while I−" the girl groaned a little as she started bending the bars outwards, her arms trembling as she did so. "There is a big cura in my right pocket. Take it and apply it on your brothers' wounds."

"But…"

"Don't worry about us." insisted the sorcerer, bending down a little to bend more parts of the makeshift opening. "Tell the blond guy to help you out with it if you don't know what to do, and run away from here. We have a group of people outside to protect you and the guards should still be knocked out."

The little kid's eyes shone at the prospect of getting out safely once and for all. Maybe they could even meet their big brother once again. "Miss, we…" her eyes closed, then opened in a stubborn determination to not let these kind strangers down. "we are very thankful. If we can ever help you guys out… please, call out for us!"

The sorcerer stopped with her task to watch the girl skip away from reach to aid her brothers, who were happily thanking a beaming but hurt Kirishima and fawning over his cool knives and his cool abilities. Uraraka let herself a small smile, and then resumed her task of bending it open like a specialized craftsman.

All of a sudden, somebody tried to help her bend the bars from up above. Kaminari was grunting above her. "I thought I was a bit more buffed up. I guess I'm a bit lanky still."

The girl stared at him in bewilderment for two seconds before resuming her task and smiling once more. Right as she did, there was some strained coughing coming from deep into the cell, making the girl speed up her ministrations and send all her work to hell, becoming too impatient.

She gave the bars a big tug that made access available, so she and Kaminari leaped between the bars and rushed to Jack's body, curled into a corner and still clad in her purple armor. "Jack! We're here!" called the archer out frantically in a whisper to not be noisy, letting the sorcerer cradle the body to her lap and inspection it. "What's wrong with her?"

Uraraka's brows were furrowed in worry, and her hands issued a warm green light settled on the warrior's temple. "I'd say nothing but a scratch. She looks pretty beaten up." answered Uraraka sharply, focusing on driving her energy into the fallen girl. Soon enough, she started stirring, which tranquilized the blond boy.

Jack's eyes fluttered open slowly with rapid bats of her eyelashes. "Uh…?" the ceiling was moving, all blurry and the noises around her drowned out in a distant echo. What was blatantly palpable though was the gentle touch of a very familiar sorcerer, as well as a gentle pressure on her right hand. She tried to prop herself up. "What…"

Uraraka forced her down again. "Stay down. We gotta take care of you. Does it hurt?"

Jack feebly tried to lift her hand up, and with clouded vision she saw her fingers were tainted with browned blood. "I don't remember much right now… my mind's a little foggy right now. Where… where are we? What are you guys doing here? You can't be here−"

Kaminari's hold on her hand tightened a smidge. "Midnight threw you into prison for some reason. We came here to take her on and take you out."

Upon mentioning her name, her eyes blew open and she winced to get up, breaking Uraraka's spell and making her temporary nurse pout in annoyance. "We're at the prison… so we are close to the factory! We need to take the opportunity to destroy that!"

Her urgency broke Uraraka's pout. "Calm down, we had planned to do that already. It's actually one of our main missions here. The rest of the guild is guarding the fortress and looking for your mother."

The brunette used the term 'mother' purposefully to see what reaction she would get from the hunter, who didn't really seem to mind their friends going against her mother. This revelation made the task easier for her. Uraraka had all intentions to make Midnight bow before her, no matter what it took.

Jack held one side of her face with her hand, trying to remember, eyes closed and expression grim. Flashes of recognition and memory spurted within her, and the panic from before grew significantly. "Midnight… she… we need to stop her! Today is one of the last days before she... "

Jack trailed off after this, but before Uraraka and Kaminari could pry any further, Kirishima came to the cell and pointed at the end of the hallway. "Those guys are starting to make some darn noise. If we don't make a move, they'll make a move on us first." Kirishima had come to a troublesome conclusion when he saw workers start making more and more noise. "We never really took into account that these guys also change shifts. And we don't know when they will−"

"They _don't_ change shifts." confirmed Jack. "They are trapped down there. I never got to see what goes in at that demonic factory, but it sure ain't pretty. Mother talked about them all the time with her subordinates. She probably didn't think anything of me being in the same room." her expression turned defeated. "She can be so naïve."

"What are you even doing here?" asked Uraraka, lending Jack a hand to get up. When Uraraka tried to put a hand on the girl to cute her further, the black-haired hunter rejected it with a shake of her head. "You are part of her family, aren't you? And you came here on your own."

She didn't mean to sound accusatory but for some reason Jack seemed hurt by that statement. "I'm… sorry for that. And I promise I will explain later when it's over, but you gotta trust me on this. I can help you guys, I know… I know how to defeat them."

The three sharply turned to Jack when they were exiting the cell. "Say what?" exclaimed Kaminari in shock. "How?"

"I have been trying to get down here to investigate what went on down here, but I was always met with guards wooing me to back off because this was _no room for little ladies like me_. Bastards." Jack seemed angry, even if this was supposed to be her family. It totally didn't seem to be like it. "I know some things about them for what I heard from Midnight."

So Jack had come here just to spy? Because that was what it looked like, as if she had only come here to sneak in and feed information when the time came− yet with the even twist that she had been thrown into prison before she had been able to get out. Uraraka wanted to believe that, because she was a bit too naïve to think badly of a dear comrade, but also too kind to believe somebody relatively close to her was a traitor.

"Midnight told me those machines or whatever are _incredibly_ sensitive to heat. Us Jirous have incredibly sensitive skin, specially with hot temperatures." she explained. But this was something everyone already knew. "The quickest way to destroy the place is to burn it to the ground."

There was a bit of silence. That plan seemed to be too easy to not have a big BUT at the end of it. "But?"

"This building is in extreme decay." yeah, the moss and humidity that clung to the walls was a pretty telling clue of this. "The underground could come crashing down with the change of pressure consequent of the heat. I can't say we would be trapped down here to burn with the fire, but it's definitely likely."

The warriors gulped in response and shared a look with each other. Being burnt to death in a decaying humid furnace didn't seem… enjoyable. Uraraka had used her whole body as a fire bullet and while the experience had been bearable, it hadn't been pleasant. Thinking of reviving the same thing again but on a higher scale brought chills down her spine. "Isn't there any other way?"

"We could manually break down all of it, but it's all too complicated and we could risk blowing up something. A moderated quick fire could kill all of it fast, but we wouldn't be able to make it out in time most likely."

Kaminari blinked, and soon enough, Jack was walking out of the prison, clutching her shoulder as the rest followed her to the end of the hallway, right before the factory's stairs down to where the madness lay. The stairs were incredibly steep, so much so you could fall over, glued to the rock mossy wall and sinking deeper and deeper to the floor below. The factory lay approximately 10 meters below prison, the fervor of workers working below echoing to the warriors' ears.

"We wouldn't make it in time," there was a high-pitched feminine laugh coming from among all noises. "because they'd make sure we burnt down with them."

Kaminari took a step back, taken aback by the views. "The stairs are… so steep. And there's so much people in there! There's even a monkey swinging about!"

"That's not a monkey." clarified Jack, squinting her eyes at the dreaded little girl. "That's Toga, Toga Himiko. Her being down there is bad news."

Kirishima looked skeptical about this information, peering over the edge with an arched eyebrow. "She looks pretty soft to me. She's only bouncing around, how old can this chick be?"

It shouldn't have surprised them when Uraraka spoke about this matter. "I've heard about her. She's not good news." her other peers looked at her, curious. "She's a pretty skilled illegal assassin. A pretty sadistic one I'd say."

Kirishima seemed pretty freaked out by how certain she sounded. "Geez, how much shit did you study before coming here? Have you been to war or something?" nobody said anything else, but their perplexed looks were self-explanatory about their agreement with the redhead.

Uraraka became mildly flustered, and pouted at how mean he sounded. "I didn't! But one's gotta do their homework before coming in. Besides, while I was travelling around the country, I heard lots of nasty rumors about her. Jack must know more, though."

"Well, whatever creepy story you heard about her is likely true, she can't stay idle for too long. Midnight usually gives her the worst and dirtiest jobs when she doesn't want to bother cleaning up a crime scene, and Toga rarely complains." explained Jack, arms crossed and seeing the girl talk excitedly to the other workers. Knowing her, she could either be making friends or plotting to kill them. "If she is down here, whatever they are crafting now must be important."

Kaminari patted her shoulder. "I guess you're the one who should know. You've been here for longer than us."

Most of the lines each of the delivered relating to her Jirou blood were often born to be kind but always sounded very double-edged. It irked her, but they were cooperating with what they probably thought to be a traitor. She couldn't really complain.

"They are probably just working on another batch of gems. There are no monsters around here though, which is strange. I'm sure I've seen mother bring some nasty creatures down here." the hunter looked around in suspicion. "They must be hidden somewhere. I'm sure that if we burn the factory down, the monsters will die, too."

Uraraka remembered something right then. "Jack, we heard a secret passage is being made between the Capital and this lair. Could it be the passage is already finished?"

"Mother never told me about it being finished, but I know it's at least halfway done." responded she. "I doubt they'll ever go through with it, considering the terrain is pretty root-ridden from the forest. I wouldn't call it an impossible mission, though."

"So I guess the monsters couldn't be there, right?" asked Kaminari.

"No. Mother wouldn't leave her precious good under a crumbling roof, she's too cautious to let that happen." her expression became pensive. "We need to burn this place to the ground. It's the only way we can finish this trade forever."

"But you said it was too risky!" exclaimed Uraraka, surprisingly enough moved to panic by the idea of those flames consuming them. "How are we supposed to light a fire without neither us being killed or them trying to put out the fire?"

Jack remained silent for the next two beating seconds. "Not all of us need to remain down there. When the fire is thriving, we must escape. But somebody must stay down there to make sure everything burns down. We can't check from up here, and if we don't fulfill our task, it will all be in vain."

The three foreigners shared a complice look. Jack talking about people risking their life and making the situation worse than what they expected was highly suspicious. Uraraka's eyes were narrowed in faint suspicion, but the three concluded they hadn't come into war with a dark clan to back off now. They had risked their lives before, this was no different. And at the very least, all the goods down there would be destroyed, even if it took their lives.

"Would we even make it up those big stairs?" asked Kirishima, pretty doubtful. "The whole place would burn, and you said everything here is sensitive to heat. The flames would take over everything."

"We got no time to think about the what ifs." reminded Uraraka, frowning and imagining how chaotic this could get. The possibility of a breakdown was getting more and more possible in her frantic mind. "We need to take action now. How are we supposed to do this?"

Jack pointed at a door right before the steps to the factory. "There are worker uniforms in there. We gotta take those and sneak in. However, the moment we set it on fire, it has to be wild enough for the workers to either be killed on the spot so nobody can escape or put the fire out. Those guys must be ready for anything."

While Jack spoke, Kaminari had already headed to the closet and taken out the black uniforms, holding them up and offering them to the gang. "Then what are we waiting for? If we are gonna march into death, at least let it be quick!"

Those were not the right words for this situation but they were all somewhat grateful for his light-hearted spirit. The uniforms were on a minute later, disguising their tarnished robes, and they quickly put their working hat on to conceal their faces and hid their weapons under the buttons. They started their march downstairs, somber.

Toga didn't even mind them. Instead, she focused on the ones who were frantically taking gems out of the furnaces, kicking her feet against the stone of the oven as she sat on top of it. "You guys are so slow! And you still wonder why the Madame wants to use you as cute little pets? Be faster, or I'll feed you to the fishies~!"

The small workers below her feet nodded frantically and their shaking frames put out a bigger effort to take the gems out faster, some of them even burning their hands. When the gang arrived to the workplace, Toga hopped off the furnace. Her black heel-less shoes swatted off some dust, her black and golden cape dangling off her slim shoulders. "You guys are late! What took you so long? These guys are super slow."

Kirishima saluted obediently, and the other three followed suit. "The young mistress needed food! We took a bit too long to feed it to her, we're sorry."

Toga took out a black and gold fan with gleaming golden hearts from her cape and opened it, covering her mouth and giggling. "Don't sweat it! Four dogs more won't really make a difference, just try to not piss me off or else!" she then hit her palm with it and smiled at them, turning to show them where to work. "Follow me~!"

Uraraka blinked several times and tugged her cap forward, tipping it and looking at Jack. "She's fairly nice. Maybe a bit annoying."

Jack's expression didn't change. The four disguised workers walked in a beeline to another furnace, where Toga had stopped to supervise others' work. "Just wait until somebody messes up. That fan isn't only to cool herself down."

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly, Toga's fan snap closed and turned into a butterfly dagger that stabbed one of the elder workers and left him bleeding and convulsing on the ground, her smile never wavering and a foot of hers digging into his shoulder.

"Tch, what a little loser! You broke one of the Madame's ice gems, and you still apologize? You know we don't allow any wimps in!" she made the bleeding corpse roll over, and scrutinized the wound with piercing golden eyes. "You two, take this fella' to the chamber. We should find him and the rest some use, right?"

Her beaming smile was terrifyingly creepy, so much so the workers obeyed in a heartbeat and carried to poor body off to a wooden door at the back of the factory. The heavy door swung open to reveal a dark room where the workers disappeared, and the rest of the crew continued their work, this ghastly murder forbidden. Toga licked her dagger clean and opened her fan again, shoulders shaking in another fit of laughter. "What a mess!"

The four guildmates shivered, but Jack was already used to this woman's shenanigans. "Told you to not take her lightly. She is an expert at this sleek assassination, so you gotta tread carefully." the Jirou hunter adjusted her cap. "Let's stay low for a bit 'til this calms down. Maybe we could hijack some furnaces to create confusion."

Kirishima walked to Jack's side, frowning profusely. "We are right under that sadist's eyes! I bet she won't let us move an inch, her eyes are everywhere." the girl still cackled and shook as the body disappeared, whipping around to flash her golden eyes at them. "She's so damn creepy, dude."

"What are you all staring at? You're gonna grow some nasty roots and bugs if you stop and stare!" she beckoned at them to follow her again. They gulped and did as she asked, their eyes shifting around the area to find a weak spot to strike. "Today is a busy day, you see. Some weaklings also come looking for easy profit. Don't try to steal any shiny stuff, or else."

They had none to zero interest in getting gems before, but now that Uraraka thought it, Asui could have an interest in taking a closer look at these gems that were at their prime. It would be hard to do so, but they could even get to use them against Midnight too, if they were lucky.

Toga eventually led them to a rectangular slabstone furnace. Flames roared from within, cracking with the heat and breaking the wood underneath. Being in close proximity to the heat, Toga started accordingly fanning herself. "Well, you guys should know the drill. Get the unprocessed ugly cores into the furnace, bake them real good, then polish them nicely! We can't have unstable raw cores, or our little monsters would die immediately! That would totally suck, wouldn't it?"

Uraraka stepped close to the shiny unprocessed gems. They had gleaming little galaxies within them, which were swirling very slowly. It did seem to hold a great deal of power. The sorcerer took one of them and carefully tossed it up and down with a hand. "So heat makes them stable?"

"It's all science mumbo-jumbo I don't really understand. The Madame said they grow some sort of nice thick layer of crystal that holds the power better, it's some sort of weird reaction. But it's not your business!" she pushed Kaminari and Kirishima closer to the furnace. "Chop chop! Go do your stuff! Remember that if you don't complete your quota, things will get nasty for you~ make us Jirous proud!"

The blonde walked away from the group, leaving the trails of a shudder running down their spines. It felt like the undercover mission had transformed into a compromise with this forsaken family. Jack frowned. "Right, like that girl belongs to my family. What a pain."

Uraraka took a few gems and threw them into the iron grid that lay in the flames. Soon enough, she could hear small cracking noises. "How much do we gotta bake this for? She didn't even tell us how much we had to crystalize them for!"

Kirishima looked back to see Toga hopping around in search of another victim. "She doesn't really shine for being professional. I guess we'll have to work while we figure out where to attack, this place looks hectic as hell."

"Yeah, it isn't as busy as it is today usually. It's hotter, too." Jack tugged at her collar, trying to get some air into her body. "We need to think fast. Just the thought of how hot this will be when this place burns down is making me sweat even more."

Uraraka couldn't agree more. She had felt the fire stick to her skin and clothes before, like a phoenix in flight, but it looked like once the fire was set here, the phoenix would be trapped beneath the smoke and rubble if things went wrong. They had to be careful. Much to their chagrin, their battling uniforms were making their bodies boil an extra lot.

They would end up trying to figure out a solution out of sheer desperation. Kaminari grimaced. "I'm gonna melt at this rate." he knelt down next to Kirishima to observe the gems baking while Uraraka inspected the raw ones, now looking at the boys. "I think our best option is to sabotage the furnaces. This place doesn't seem to have much more than furnaces, tables and creepy-ass drawings and shit. I don't even wanna know how many bodies are in that room at the back."

Jack gulped. "I hate to say this, but they are probably being used to stuff the gems in. If we burn this place to the ground, we'll probably give them the happiest ending they can get at this point." she looked around sneakily. "If we create a big intense fire, they will probably run away. You guys got people waiting outside, yeah?"

"I don't think we will need to execute these people. These guys look more like hostages to me." responded Kirishima, making the crystals shake with the handle of the grid. "If they run away, Mina and the rest will probably notice and let them go. I don't know what will happen with that Toga girl."

Uraraka placed the raw gem on the tray by the furnace carefully, musing over how smooth the surface was. "I'm guessing she will try to run up the stairs. But we can hold her back if we make it out of here faster. Or maybe she will stay down and burn herself to death just to hold us down."

Kaminari arched an eyebrow as the blonde wacked one of the workers with her fan. "She doesn't seem to be very bright. She looks more like the scaredy type."

"She's an A class assassin. Again, don't take her lightly." knowingly, Jack looked into the furnace, nodded, and took the grid out to dump the steaming crystals on a basket at the other side. She offered the grid to Uraraka and the sorcerer started placing more gems on it. "But we need to act fast. We are just wasting time by staying idle."

"What will we accomplish by attacking the furnaces, though?" asked the blonde archer, helping Jack pull the gems in. "These are just furnaces."

Uraraka frowned, patting the big furnaces. "They aren't just _furnaces_."

Jack arched an eyebrow. "Oh, you noticed too?"

"Noticed what?" asked Kirishima, crossing his arms.

"You can't magically make gems become properly functional with just heat. Physics ain't that easy. I'm sure Midnight tried to woo Toga into thinking that just to not bother explaining, but I'm sure there's a big mass of energy contained within these, as if they were tanks." if she focused, she could feel a large mass of corruption radiate from beneath the walls of stone. "It's heat, and a surplus of energy. I'm sure these will react to the excess of heat, as they are pressured inside the furnace."

"So they will… explode?" asked Kaminari, grimacing at the prospect of this weakly assembled place trying to withstand such explosions.

"I'd say so." responded Jack, inspecting the seemingly harmless furnace. "If we attack one furnace with a strong blow of fire, they will probably become unstable and explode. The surge of heat could trigger a chain explosion with the rest of furnaces. This… could be a nightmare, but very possibly a success, too."

Kirishima winced lightly as he imagined the place crumbling and burying everyone (potentially him and his comrades too) under the debris. While thinking about that, he looked up at the endless ceiling. "Wouldn't the floor of the whole lair break down? Wouldn't the _whole_ lair crash down on us?"

Jack's arms were crossed as she followed Kirishima's eyes. "Not necessarily. The ceiling is pretty thick, you have seen the deep stairs you had to take to come down here, right? I'd say only the ceiling of this cave would fall down on us."

Kaminari let go of a small gem he was polishing to shriek. "Hold up, so we _are_ considering being lapidated in here?"

"We can't really overlook any possibilities." pondered Uraraka, looking up as well. She could tell the ceiling was already presenting signs of decay, based on the small peebles that would fall of occasionally. The heat here was already brewing some nasty pressure, even her delicate ears could feel it. "But we need to act as soon as everyone is distracted."

Jack looked around again after taking out the tray of freshly cooked gems. Toga was walking around in their direction now, prompting the new workers to hide their faces better and mechanically continue with their hazardous work. The blonde treaded close, and inspected their work for a minute in which the guild mates felt her golden stare on their necks. Everyone was sweating, waiting for her to say something.

Soon enough, Toga broke the tension with a sigh. "Ugh, work is so slow today. Nobody's getting anything done properly either, this sucks!" lamented the girl, and the rest could exhale in relief that she was just there to whine about her labour and not scold them for whatever bullshit her twisted mine could fabricate. "Anyway, how are our babies coming? Are they bakin' good?"

"I would say so." responded Kirishima, knowing perfectly that if Uraraka or Jack spoke, Toga would most likely recognize the voices of a known Jirou member and a skilled national assassin. "It's getting pretty hot here, though."

"It always does." she stated, somewhat annoyed by that. "And we gotta drag these robes around− they are super fancy and shiny but they are so warm! The Madame could have spoiled me a bit and bought us something thinner to wear!"

"Us?" asked Kaminari, pulling his attention away from the furnace and letting Jack take over.

The blonde nodded with a smile, her eyes somewhat glimmering. "Yeah! Like, us officials have these elegant things to wear. The Madame even got me a fan matching with hers, everyone has these capes and… they are fancy, but they are so annoying when your shift is down here."

Jack frowned at this information. Mother didn't seem to care much about her workers, which was odd considering how much of a businesswoman she was. It wasn't in her to be so careless about the people she had under her strings.

"Anyways, you guys better hurry and get your batch done. The faster, the sooner you go home!" smiled she almost kindly before skipping off to her next victim. Her last sentence made everyone attending the furnace grow cold, looking at each other, puzzled.

Uraraka's eyebrows were trembling, her eyes slowly scanning the batch of workers around them. "Hold up… they are not hostages?"

Jack has severely misestimated the situation. "I refuse to believe people come work here willingly but… could it _actually_ be?"

"No, impossible." Kaminari gulped as he saw one worker collapse out of exhaustion, making others swarm athim with haste. Toga didn't even take a step in their direction, she just opened her fan and giggled. "If I saw this everyday I would quit it right away."

Uraraka's eyebrows sunk in suspicion. "I'd say these guys probably can't quit. The Jirous are also known for being skilled extortionists." she didn't realize she had said it right in front of Jack until a second has passed, but the hunter didn't seem offended by the statement. "Let's get into it right away."

As Uraraka tugged her gloves on even further, Kirishima regarded her with a lingering question. "So we're gonna do it now? And _you_ are gonna do it?"

Uraraka blinked at him as if those questions had the most obvious of answers. "We can't keep on fooling around. If we lose this battle and the Jirous continue making business after this, all gems they get done will make the future situation worse. Also, I don't think any of you guys can make a proper fire."

Jack took a step back, and Kaminari followed suit. She smirked playfully. "You're saying it as if we didn't know how to start a fire in a forest."

In the midst of the busy day and the blistering heat in that factory, nobody noticed Uraraka lighting her hand in flames. To any stranger, she was probably just fueling the fire, but nobody knew better and thus, nobody was there to stop the madness that was about to ensue. Uraraka's eyes gleamed in orange, and before long, she threw the flames against the furnace.

It was a cracking battle between the two energies, Uraraka's and the corruption within the furnace, before the magic core overloaded with heat and a chaotic explosion rippled through the factory, knocked the various workers out of orbit, the fire soaring and setting the gems and the papers around on a wild, hellish fire.

However, as the sorcerer tried to pick herself off the ground and the people around her started squirming in anticipation, shaking the blur of the explosion in her sight off, she could distinctly hear the dreadful noise of the few gems they had crafted cracking as well as they reacted to the sharp increase in temeprature. While Uraraka couldn't see well yet, she could drown out the havoc around her to hear how the energy started being released.

She had made a gross miscalculation. An incredibly big and gross one.

As her eyes zeroed on the tray of gems that were shadowed by the soaring wildfire, Toga quickly came to inspect this. Her dagger was already out, as expected. "What the hell did you do!? Madame is gonna kill us for th−"

Before long, another bigger explosion boomed before them, but this time it reached even further and the flames reached the next furnace, which started cracking at the unstable activity and consequently exploded, along with the gems it held inside and the few other furnaces that were to come. The fires were spreading easily, the temperature was rising to a point it brought the word "hell" to mind.

Most workers had started running away after the first explosion and were making their way up. Toga and the guildmates had been knocked out shortly after the second explosion, knocked back and hitting some debris that was starting to fall down onto the factory. The place was, as predicted, starting to crash and fall down. However, the remaining people lay motionless in the heat and dangerous ground.

The first one to wake up was Jack, who was able to shake Kaminari awake. Her working uniform was starting to burn off, just as everyone's was. "Kaminari, wake up! We gotta get away from here!"

The boy found himself stirring. He was met with a blurry image of Jack's shadow, flames behind her, debris from the ceiling falling right behind her, and the distinctive sound of several minor exploding gems echoing throughout the underground facility. As he sat up, drowning in heat, his eyes immediately sought Uraraka and Kirishima's bodies. "Where are the rest?"

Jack's eyes roamed around the room, and she noticed a small hand behind a pile of debris. "I see a hand!"

Kaminari turned a bit when he heard a pile of rocks being moved around, and from underneath emerged Kirishima, limping on the pile and making the blond stand up abruptly, feel lightheaded, but still help the redhead out nonetheless. The archer swung his friend's arm around his shoulder and helped him step forward. "C'mon buddy… can you walk?"

Jack shook her head at the duo. Kaminari had just woken up from a potential life hazard but there he was nonetheless, standing up and making it seem that walking was just as easy as breathing, except both cases were actually extremely difficult to do under there, in the suffocating and alarmingly rising fires. Ashes were being blown in the scorching heat, smoke rising from the pires of fire.

The female hunter busied herself going to that trembling hand behind the fires, and she stumbled with a very red Uraraka who was struggling to breathe, also starting to get up, now aided by Jack's hand. "Get up, Uraraka! We have to get away from here!"

Uraraka's eyes fleeted open, breathing jagged, fingers curling into the tainted floor that was coating her palms with dark ashes. Her ears had been temporarily deafened due to her proximity to the explosion, causing her head to swim in a daze and confusion to flood her eyes as she gazed into the fires that were eating the factory alive.

She tried to get to her feet with Jack's help, but the latter deemed she could stand properly when Uraraka shook her head serenely, wobbling a bit on her feet. Her head turned to see Toga passed out on the floor, a small poodle of blood surrounding her blonde locks. Everyone knew better than to be hopeful, though.

They got a final warning when the factory shook drastically, knocking Uraraka to her knees. She spit a small amount of blood, realizing that her mind wasn't only foggy because of the collision− the sorcerer clutched her stomach, her blurry hand now tarnished with rich crimson blood.

She cursed under her breath. Jack didn't see this small part and went to Kaminari and Kirishima, supporting the other hunter by swinging his arm over her shoulders. "Let's get going. We can't stay down here and−"

There was a small, maniacal giggle coming from near the flames, and the group turned their heads to Toga's shaking body that was losing alarming amounts of blood− but as expected, she wasn't dead yet.

Jack attempted to step to her, but Uraraka raised a somber hand and stood before them, leaving the group behind her. Her hair moved with the dance and flicks of the flames, debris falling in the distance and small meteors crashing with the ground. "I will hold her back."

The three teammates turned to her in shock. Jack frowned and let go of Kirishima to step closer to the sorcerer. "Are you insane!? We can't leave you down here!"

Uraraka turned her head slightly to them, not fully facing them. "I will find a way out! We said the operation was all that mattered, right?" she turned back to the flames, and her hand didn't fall back to her side. Instead, it curled into a fist. A promise. "I will meet you guys at the surface!"

Just as she did this, she was clutching her stomach. Jack insisted, though. "I'm not going to let you die down here! I'm a part of this, if anybody deserves to stay down here, it's me!" Jack stepped closer to the sorcerer, her eyes urgent. Uraraka couldn't stay down there and be buried with her family's mistakes− she wouldn't let that happen. "You must go up to the surface with the rest and find my mother to put an end to this, I will be alright and−"

"If she stays here, she will die."

Everyone turned to Toga. Her face had turned to the useless dramatic banter between those girls, indifference etched in her features. Feigning some sort of helpful behavior, she articulated her next words very carefully.

"Our master told us long ago. He has seen it happen over and over again in the past. It's a fact." the meaning was vague, but something about it was familiar to Uraraka. "If the little Mistress remains down here, she will die."

Uraraka's eyes flashed with a hint of suspicion and very sober frustration. "But if I do… I won't, right?"

All Toga had to offer about that was a pregnant silence. At this, Jack was unsure of what to do. What was Toga even talking about, and who was she talking about? The hunter knew this affirmation of danger was enough to make Uraraka reject all sorts of help.

"I don't care what family you belong to, you don't owe us any sort of sacrifice. It will all be in vain. Besides, you still owe us an explanation." her eyes turned sincere, serious, trying to encourage her to leave her behind. "You can tell me all about it when we reach the surface. Just get away from here!"

Kirishima winced besides Kaminari, looking at Uraraka in deep worry but not able to articulate a sole word. The same case happened with the blonde, who was also aware that it was most likely that the only person who could escape this hell by her own means was Uraraka.

Jack was taken aback by her demands, but when she heard debris falling near the stairs, she knew all she could do was have faith in Uraraka's inmense power and leave the situation with Toga on her hands. "I'll see you up there. You better survive this."

The playful order made Uraraka chuckle, but the animosity in the situation was gone as soon as the three comrades started their way up the stairs and Uraraka stepped deeper into the flames, standing directly before Toga, who was inspecting the brunette as if she was the most delicious meal she'd get to taste in a long time.

Uraraka frowned at the sadistic look in those golden eyes of hers, disturbed by her ignorance towards the absolute nightmare those two were going up against. And Toga was doing absolutely nothing to save herself from this despair. Instead, she seemed happy. Like a puppet that had finally finished her role in life.

"You sure look calm despite being at the brink of death." surprisingly, it was Toga who said this, her eyes piercing into Uraraka's. "It would have been much easier to drop the little girl here and wash your hands."

The sorcerer felt a bitter taste at the bottom of her throat, sensing a vile tone laced to the girl's voice. "Whoever is playing with the strings of this messed up world has never let me rest. Even in death, they'd probably chase after me, too. But I don't think they'll ever leave me alone and spare my heart by taking my life."

The blonde's smile curled even more. "Oh, really?"

Uraraka had no doubt about this, and nodded.

Toga let her shoulders rise in an attempt to giggle, but the heat was wearing her giggles dry. "Turns out you are starting to see things clear." and she left it at that. There was a gap of silence before the Jirou commander talked again. "You know they don't care, right? About you. Deep inside, they don't care."

If this was some sort of attempt in her part to taunt Uraraka into depression before death, the brunette was already a step ahead of her. She had been living with this possibility in her mind after coming back from the dead and back into this family where she didn't fit in anymore. Clearly somebody telling her about this was like letting a drop of water into the ocean.

"I know." she responded sharply. It hurt. Deep inside, the thought itself was latched to her heart like a spiky thorn, a consequence of her bad choices. But she had learned to live with that pain.

Toga didn't seem to care about this, either. "You know, once this is over, you'll be forgotten again. Nobody will remember you." this she out more emphasis on. Weirdly enough, it didn't sound mean. If anything, Toga regarded Uraraka with a tint of pity. "Aren't you tired of making the same mistakes over and over? It must hurt to live knowing who they are, but also knowing they don't remember you at all. It must be annoying, huh?"

Uraraka wouldn't understand what she meant until much, much later. With her surroundings enshrouded in fire and heat, she remained silent.

"Ah, but you don't get it. Our master told us you wouldn't understand yet. I guess that's okay." conceded Toga. As she talked, she watched the blood at Uraraka's feet grow just as hers started to pool around her barely moving body. The heat was making it impossible to breathe. Uraraka could feel this, too. She was _suffocating_.

Despite her faith in herself, she was starting to lose energy like a dam that had broken overnight. She was starting to doubt herself, to think that maybe, just maybe, she'd be allowed release before she could give this world the release it needed. Perhaps it was better this way.

And for that, she smiled.

"You're… nasty." commented Toga as the girl fell to her knees. Her uniform was stained with a delicious blood she wished she had stopped to contemplate further, to watch it drip onto the ground and appreciate the noises it did as her enemy lost her life to the flames and heat. It should have been an uplifting experience for her to see such treasured sorcerer lose her life visibly before her own eyes. To see that light in her eyes fade.

Hadn't it been for the fact that Toga was dying and perhaps the blonde would have relished in watching Uraraka's soul give up on its chains to her human body.

"Heh…" Uraraka spit a bit of blood again, and couldn't help but curl on the ground besides Toga. "I guess you dragged me down with you. Maybe I won't be able to… save myself now."

The Jirou member had nothing to say about this. She just watched the sorcerer go still. Perhaps the brunette was, for once, waiting for somebody to come save her from this mess she had dragged herself into. Maybe, she had just given up. Toga wished she had been able to see the situation unfold for that curious little mage.

However, her eyelids became too heavy for her to bear, and the world around her faded, the last thing she heard being Uraraka's ragged breathing as the sorcerer in rags waited for an answer.

The brunette coughed again. Her master had once said that fate was written in stone for her, and that she was bound to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Maybe the gods above her had decided this was the best ending to save their precious world from the hero Uraraka had once strived to be.

Maybe, in the end, she was nothing else but a villain bound to die to the thriving flames and falling sky of that illegal factory.

Before long, a big piece of debris crashed down around her, the lair starting to give up completely as the fires gave one last breath of chaos and decided to end everything. The last thing Uraraka heard was not the ragged breathing of her enemy. She didn't die at the hands of her enemy.

Instead, the last thing she heard was the indomitable crash of the world falling down on her, and her world turning to black.

* * *

"Ochako? What are you doing up so late?"

A small old maid approached Uraraka as she caught the little girl sneaking through the corridors. She didn't seem in any way concerned about this, but rather surprised to see such responsible girl skipping her curfew to sneak around the residence. Her feet had ghosted across the fancy carpet of the corridors before bumping with this maid, who was now in her way.

"I couldn't get much sleep, so I was hoping that a small walk around here would soothe me."

That was a complete lie. Ochako wasn't keen on lies but this once she had to play truant on her duties and wiggle for some information that was being hidden from her currently. She knew by now where the room of the chief was, and she had heard maids talking among each other about secret meetings held in the dead of the night.

If she was correct, that man that was watching after would be meeting tonight with one of his counselors.

It was nothing really, but it was better than being clueless.

"That's great, Ochako." the kind maid smiled to her very warmly, hugging the basket full of towels and rags close to her. "Please go back to bed soon, though. The master doesn't like children sneaking around without permission."

The girl gritted her teeth as the smiling woman brushed past her. She was no child! Ochako sure had some cute features that made her look as enchanting and cute as a baby deer, cheeks rosy and personality bubbly like that of an infant. However, she knew how to use that misunderstanding against her foes and it would sure trap them all like moths to a light, specially that gross, naïve leader of hers.

He'd pay. Him and the other would pay.

She didn't really know where the meeting room was, so she had been wandering for a while in circles through the several floors and wings of the building. However, within time, she realized that it was probably located between wings in a reachable point of the building.

Just when she had decided to head there, she passed by the chief's bedroom and heard hushed talking, making her stop in her tracks to obviously spy on them. The doors were open just a crack, letting one see two figures talking to the other, shadowed by the moonlight and throwing shadows in Ochako's direction.

The girl stayed quiet, hearing the exchange.

"Are you completely sure they were not kidding?"

"I don't think that man is one to joke around." spoke the chief in a grave voice. His arms were folded behind his back. "It sure is relieving to see he was able to stop this madness and wants to give up now that Ochako has come to us. That clan would have never survived against us, without the mage or not."

"Then, is this war over?" asked the minister excitedly. If Ochako could tell, she'd say that man was brimming with ecstasy at the victory… but what were they exactly talking about? She frowned, sensing trouble for her plans. "Are they going to retreat?"

Ochako's eyes widened dramatically before clouding with a shadow of danger. Her fingers curled into a fist. This was a serious dent to her plans, this could not happen. "They have put forward a peace treaty for us to take a fraction of their lands and now live peacefully. We will keep their sweet mage captive so they won't try anything risky."

"Wait, they agreed to it?"

"Naturally. They don't have anything to do now, they're cornered." there was a snicker in the air, and the embers of a smirk. "They basically sold that child to us. She's back to humankind, right where she belongs. She's still the puppet they kept around for so long, and she'll remain as such for the rest of her life."

There was no speck of empathy coming from that man, and it was fueling her even further to hear such despicable words coming from a mouth that spoke of miracles to his clan. And… did he just say her clan had…? Ochako cursed, somewhat even further disappointed than before at the thought of what used to be her foster family trading her so easily.

But from that momentary sadness surfaced a wanton to have her revenge twice as hard. Revenge on the people that killed her family and were about to use her, revenge on the people who were still going to use her as a puppet even when she rot to hell in those filthy prisons where they'd chain her.

This didn't change her plans. If only, it changed when she'd actually give things a spin. The minister kept on talking, though. "That's so sad. Does the girl even know about this?"

"If she did, she'd wanna fly back to her parents and it'd ruin our plans. If she stays here, there will be peace and we won't lose any soldiers in this stupid war. Those territories are tempting, but I value my men more than my power." that sounded like a lie told through his teeth. "We'll be fine like this."

"This is excellent news." stated the minister, chuckling as both men looked into the moonlight.

"A new era of peace and domination is ahead of us." spoke the chief in bliss, like a pirate sailing into a new land and being hit by the breezes of the ocean. "This country will someday rule over this rotten world. Isn't it wonderful?"

No, it was not wonderful. And Ochako would soon show them that she could be more cunning and calculating, strategic and mean than they could ever be. She peeled herself off the door and walked silently into the dark hallways, scheming her plan silently, her robes flying with her walking.

Her eyebrows sunk into a menacing growl. "We'll see who laughs last, mister."

* * *

" _W-Wake up."_ Uraraka heard this voice swimming above her head, blurry and like a far away echo. _"Wake up, Uraraka."_

" _F-For fuck's sake… W-Wake up! It's a fucking command now!"_ huh? Who was that? What was going on? Her fingers twitched to move. Her lips tried to speak, to part and murmur some consoling words. She felt cold. She should be burning in hell, but for some reason, that felt like a distant memory now.

Everything was black. But his voice prevailed in the darkness.

" _What the fuck do you think... that you are fucking doing, angelface?"_

Her body was feeling lighter and lighter with each passing second, her mind getting more jambled as his voice grew louder but fuzzier. She could feel a light pressure on her hand, and distant silent crying in that trembling grasp of his.

" _Please… come back to us… Ochako."_

She could feel a blinding light on her closed eyes, opening like doors before it completely burned her eyelids and forced her to slowly flutter them open. Chirping birds around her, it felt like absolutely nothing was happening. Then, she felt a warm touch on her stomach, and the raspy, hoarse voice she had known for pretty long now. Her eyes flickered out of her blurry sight.

"Uh? She is starting to wake up. Took your sweet time, fairy." when the blinding sunlight finally faded out from sight, she was welcome with a mess of purple hair and dead eyes staring down on her. "What the hell were you doing down there? That place is still burning down and getting worse."

Uraraka tried to move, but a gentle, hard hand pressed her against the ground again. "Don't try too hard, fairy." she looked up and saw a man with silver hair and a kind, cheery smile, just like Kirishima's.

"Hey, Tetsutetsu, no need to borrow my nicknames. Only I call her that way." it didn't sound possessive, just chiding. Uraraka knew that if Bakugou had said that sole thing, her heart would have squeezed painfully. That was the duality of her heart. "You got some nasty burns. What were you thinking?"

Uraraka winced and tried to sit up again. This time, Tetsutetsu helped her. She held her head with her hand, teeth gritted. She could feel the stinging of her blisters with each brush of the fabric of her uniform against her skin. She hissed at the several burns she had scattered all over her body.

"Yeah, tried curing those, but it'll be better to let them heal naturally." explained Shinsou, his green hand still hovering over her stomach. It was then when she looked down to see the previously gushing wound was slowly closing. "Don't force it. We need you nice and fresh. You did enough already."

"Enough!? You're saying is as if…!" she finished her sentence with a gasp, air being knocked out of her. That wound was uglier than she had expected, but at least it wasn't leaking out anymore. "I did what I could. You weren't even there!"

"I was waiting out here, stupid."

"Shinsou!" exclaimed a woman with auburn hair, frowning at the sorcerer man. "Don't insult her!"

"Whatever." his tone was just as dead as ever. It was good to see some things never changed. "Why did you have to do that kamikaze spiel? You could have just killed that Toga girl."

"Yeah, just wait until some crazy greedy investigator finds the gems and does something with them." her eyes closed for a second, and then her mind caught up with the events from before and they opened again. "What happened to Toga? Is she…?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Shinsou had no problems of tact to say how it was, he was just as unaffected as always.

"We think we found her burnt to a crisp. I don't think she was a Jirou by blood, but she was just as sensitive to heat as them. We let her burn there. She was plenty corrupted and crazy, so as they say, let the fire purify the world."

Uraraka gulped thickly at how cruel he was with his words, but she guessed it was better that way. "I… guess." she looked at her surroundings and soon enough, she could hear the cracking of the fire as it destroyed all at its wake in an endless cycle. She realized that they were standing close to the walls of the fortress. There was a big hole by her side, where hell was being boiled angrily. "How did you…"

"We were planning how to enter the fortress when we heard explosions and the ground trembled." explained the red haired girl. "Then the ground broke in twain and we saw you down there, basically bleeding to death. Shinsou jumped in and took you out."

Uraraka turned to the mage who was purposefully avoiding her eyes. "Don't. We are still partners to catch Midnight even if we've been away for a little time." his hands had been withdrawn from healing her and was looking at the ground. "So get up, we gotta find her. Your comrades must have found her already… or so I hope."

Uraraka shook some of the remaining dizziness away and was brought to her feet by the auburn haired girl, at whom Uraraka smiled a bit. "The name's Kendou. It's good to finally meet the person who has kept Shinsou in the legal lines."

Well, 'legal' was a bit of a broad term. "It's nice to meet you too."

Shinsou's arms were crossed at this encounter. "Don't get cozy here. We need to get to your people and help them out, fairy." Uraraka nodded, all gentleness washed away from her face as she was reminded of her mission. "Where do you think they could be?"

Her eyes darted down as she thought about their current location, lips pursed together before she came clean. "The upper floors are where Midnight's highest commanders and her own office are located. Though, seeing how Toga was down there at the factory, I get the feeling they may be more scattered than we bargained."

"Is Midnight still here, though?" asked Tetsutetsu, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Our spying convoy told us that, at least."

Shinsou frowned and deadpanned again, adjusting his black cloak around his neck. "Then it's worth a shot. Let's get going." the leader started walking away, with Uraraka, Kendou and Tetsutetsu following suit. Unbeknownst to them, Shinsou's expression had been drowned to a horrifying expression of revenge. "Let's see who laughs last, _Madame_."

* * *

"Where even are we?"

"Does it fucking look like I know? Deku here should know where we are going." barked Bakugou as they walked through the corridors, boots thumping against the hard rugs that covered their step. The blonde's frown was always present and at attention, so close to tasting the honey of victory he couldn't think of absolutely anything else.

Not even the vase he was about to bump with.

Todoroki pushed him out of the vase's way as he talked to Midoriya. "Where are we exactly?"

Asui wisely decided to speak in a low voice, glancing at the chain of doors at their sides. She knew there are plenty laboratories nestled behind doors, and workers could be in there as well. It was better to still walk silently and make this operation a clean stab as they had intended to begin with.

"Midnight must be around here somewhere. Knowing that woman, she probably has this grand office with a lot of statues and all that extravagant stuff." she saw this proof in how the rugs were ornamented with the clan's shield, as well as golden details that covered it and the fierce lion statues between each of the wide dusty windows. This place was surprisingly akin to a labyrinth.

If Midnight had intended for this to be a maze to the naked eye, she had done a great job. But Bakugou would never let her win.

"Then we gotta find that place. I'm not gonna let that skank off the hook ever again." his expression contorted into a confident grin, one that was way more menacing than any of his explosions or his blades. His big, cursed blade clinked against the metal at the back of his belt.

Midoriya regarded the leader with a worried glance. Usually, he'd let Bakugou do as he pleased and go as crazy as the blond desired− but this time was a little different.

The situation at hand was complicated, messy, and considering Uraraka had a personal implication with this matter, it wasn't far-fetched to say Bakugou did, as well. Midoriya had heard him before, talking about not willing to let Uraraka take such tremendous enemy down. The kind leader knew this was Bakugou's way of caring for somebody− being brash, being quiet, and trying to not let harm come his beloved's way.

And Midoriya also knew what had happened last time when Midnight made Bakugou basically collapse with a bat of her lashes. Bakugou was probably thinking Uraraka was making this too personal albeit there was a high chance the blond himself was also doing that as well. Midoriya regarded him with a slight crinkle of his eyebrows, concerned again.

Before he could voice his concerns to the other leader, he found himself tripping and stepping into a hole that had cracked itself into the floor, and Midoriya shrieked in a drowned voice as he held onto the edge of the hole for dear life.

His people came rushing to him, except Bakugou who took is sweet time under the presumption that Deku had just tripped again− but upon arriving to the scene he realized he was wrong. "What the fuck?"

Midoriya showed them all a nervous smile. "I swear I don't know where this came from…"

Yaoyorozu helped the leader up. "It must be those time distortion thingies acting again. I didn't even realize the floor was made of wood before you fell in there."

Todoroki realized something curious when she said that. "Wait. None of the floors are made of wood, this is a stone fortress." when Midoriya was up and standing, Todoroki had the wonderful idea of looking into the darkness of the hole, kneeling down while Bakugou crouched with his elbows on his knees.

"Nothing worth crying for here. It's just a dusty pit, no need to turn into a fucking detective." deadpanned Bakugou, looking at Todoroki with a bemused expression. "What's that long face for?" asked the blond, frowning a bit.

Todoroki's expression had turned concerned, suddenly. "Look closer."

Everybody complied. Seconds passed and nothing was seen, nothing was heard other than birds chirping outside and some light noises from behind the doors. Bakugou's frown deepened, feeling he was just wasting his time− however, a very familiar growl came from deep within, which startled the leader to a point he stood up with a look of panic nobody had ever seen him wear other than… when Uraraka died.

"That's…" another weak growl came from within and he gasped in anger, realizing who was deep within that crevice. His eyes flashed in pure, sheer unstoppable ire. "That's Amelie!"

Todoroki wrapped his hand in flames to look into the cave, and soon enough, a weak-looking red dragon was looking at them in a plea for help, one Bakugou obeyed immediately as he jumped into the darkness. There was the sound of his boots scraping against the cobblestone and the dragon whining as her owner came to rescue her.

Bakugou could be as brash and wild as he wanted to portray but his sensitivity towards animals was evident in moments like these. There was a question in the air along the lines of _what the fuck are you doing here?_ laced with deep concern for the wounded creature.

His calloused hand gingerly felt the cheek of his wounded ferocious pet, and he shot her a worried grimace before looking up at his peers. "I gotta get her out of here! Go on without me!"

Everyone was shocked by his request. Knowing him the most, Midoriya talked back. The situation must be dire if the most fearsome of leaders was refusing to go forward. "We can't leave you here! The clan will find you and−!"

"I don't give a shit." he interjected, his tone strangely determined and eerie. "I will find a way out of here! I'm not gonna let her die here, so I will meet up with you all later!" the dragon let out a whine in response, as if not wanting his help, but he refused to leave her to rot there. "Don't fuck up or I'll send my baby to toast your asses!"

The whole gang arched back at his brazen words, but when Bakugou broke free from his minor concerned phase, Midoriya allowed himself to breathe and take a step away from the crevice, surprising everyone around him. The boy gave them a soothing smile.

"Let's let Bakugou do his thing. If we hang around out of fear for him, we will never make it out of here." explained the leader, and took a last glimpse into the hole to talk to Bakugou one last time. "When we find Midnight, we'll make some sort of signal! Don't be too noisy, will you?"

The blond looked up from the dragon to hiss at his peer. "For fuck's sake, just go already!"

Todoroki tugged at Midoriya's arm. The crew had already started walking away into the hallway, leaving Bakugou behind as he tried to look after his wounded pet. He could tell the animal was unscathed, but severely malnourished. He had told that stupid engineer of theirs to look after Amelie, what the hell had happened for her to end up here?

He wisely decided to grab a dusty plank he had found there and put it over the crevice to cover his tracks. Then, he went over to his dragon again, palming her muzzle with an uncanny display of tenderness. He had always had a soft spot for this creature ever since he got his hands on her. Months and weeks and endless days of taming so this beautiful beast could actually obey and respect him. He had never had trouble with anyone to respect him, other than Amelie and to some extent, Uraraka.

When he thought of her he banged his forehead against Amelie's neck softly, cursing under his breath. The red dragon nuzzled him back, whining softly in hunger. The blond was now busy wondering if Uraraka was alright, but no part of him was uneasy. He knew she'd come back unscathed. Bakugou could count on it.

He still worried about it like a kid, though.

Coming back to Earth, the hunter inspected his surroundings. He let out a small explosion to temporarily light up his surroundings. They were currently trapped in an empty rock and wood room that had no use other than occupying space, full to the brim with dust and a clinging humidity that made his urge to escape increase in tenfold. The silence around them was unbearable, it was tense and eerie as if some other beast would come from the pitch darkness to swallow them whole.

Bakugou gulped.

The dragon sensed his unease and tried to reach him with her tail, but the leader was rolling the ball again, scheming a plan to get her out of there without risking the operation. He didn't know if there were guards around the fortress, at the other side of the wall where he could hear birds chirping outside.

He looked back at her with a deep scowl. "How the hell did you get in here?"

Amelie gave no conclusive answer other than a throaty growl. Katsuki sighed and jumped up to push the plank out of the way, and grabbed the edge to prop himself out of the crevice, his muscular arms making the job easy and smooth. The dragon looked up with a sad whine, as if questioning why his master was abandoning her. His heart squeezed at that, it made him kind of sad he had to leave her just for a bit more.

"I'll come back, I gotta make sure there are no guards to injure you any further." he explained, and the dragon seemed to understand. "I'll let you grab the bodies of the fuckers I might find there. There might be some sorcerers too." the word made the dragon lick her teeth, and Bakugou grinned in a predatory way. "I know. Tasty. Their blood is rich as hell." mused Bakugou.

He got up from his crouching position and signalled her to stay quiet while he covered the crevice with the plank, then went back to fix the ugly rug so it covered the place again. He went back on his step to go outside, knowing there would be nobody to stop him. He looked back just for a second to check in silence if there was any disturbance in the air.

All that greeted him was silence. Calm, he turned around again to walk out of the building, seeking his guarding comrades so they could help out.

Meanwhile, Midoriya and the rest had taken a sharp turn to the right in search of the dreaded dark leader.

The group marched into a mahogany corridor with a more humble set of rugs and golden embroidery. This time, the walls had become so thick and the way so thin the warriors were overcome with a sharp sense of claustrophobia, but the golden sheen that swam around the narrow passage made it a bit more bearable.

The place was uncommonly classy. The fortress had been dominated by stone, wood and certain decorative elements like those of a cathedral. However, the deeper they walked into the dungeon, the more they noticed the structure was resembling a cozy palace more and more, the grand palace for a great villain with a family.

It was starting to resembling a home.

"This place is… fancy." admitted Todoroki, walking through the narrow corridor with Midoriya by his side, who agreed with him with a nod. "I had expected this place to look more grim, to be absolutely honest."

At the end of the hallway, Yaoyorozu saw a set of double doors bathed in the salmon sunlight of the morning. Silence permeated the room like heavy rain. But it wasn't raining, was it? Then how could it be the mood was set to unleash an angry storm upon the trespassers?

"That must be it." concluded Asui. The gang took a few steps forward until they were standing before the office. It felt like once they took another step in that direction, they wouldn't be able to look back. It was a step before the final battle. There was an ominous feeling of intimidation stinging their hearts.

But Midoriya wouldn't let the fear win. "We will distract Midnight while Bakugou and the rest come back from taking Jack out of the basement."

Asui's voice was stale unlike no other. "Do you think they did it?"

"I don't think so." Midoriya smiled to himself, and pressed a hand against the door, positive things would work. Regardless, his other hand clutched his sword carefully, feeling its power push him forward. His eyes were set on the doors as they cracked open, and everyone readied their swords for battle.

The doors pushed open with a sinister groan, but when the light that illuminated the room faded away, the only thing they saw in it was an empty office. A posh, empty office. A big mahogany desk, bookshelves, papers, a sack of gems, parallel clean windows, and several Jirou uniforms with suspicious red spots. But the most important part of this raid, Midnight, was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone was shocked by this. An empty feeling of disappointment settled in their hearts when they found out their desired enemy had escaped their clutches once more. It had suddenly thrown their neat almost complete puzzle in the air and the pieces were scrambled once more.

In other words, their strategy had been royally _fucked_.

"Where is she!?" exclaimed Todoroki, frowning. Asui padded into the office to look for the desired villain, just in case she was hiding, but found nothing. "We lost her!"

Yaoyorozu realized something frightening. "Could it be… Uraraka and the rest crossed paths with her at the factory? It… It can't be, right?"

Everyone was invaded with that fear in a matter of seconds, but Asui, knowing what was up, shook her head. "Midnight is also extremely sensitive to heat, maybe even more so than the workers down there. She must just be somewhere else."

But _where_? wondered Midoriya. She didn't look like the sort of woman to work at the factory, but instead was more like the type of leader that worked behind the scenes with strategy and numbers, and maybe was also a badass necromancer with the power to destroy entire villages. She was an attacker and a schemer, but not a worker.

A moment later, they certainly discovered she was more than a schemer and a warrior.

The ground under their feet started shaking uncontrollably, as if the Earth was about to break in twain and swallow them like the pits of hell had been opened for them. The wooden floor started cracking, the walls quivering at the pressure as something tried to destroy the floor from below them. Soon enough, the floor suddenly crashed open, and the warriors found themselves falling down for a split second, head first into the void, and closing their eyes readying their bodies for whatever nightmare was about to ensue.

Their numb bodies met the hard concrete of the hallway that had been ran down by Uraraka and her vines, and a victorious Midnight held the bodies of the people that had been guarding the doors with a vine of hers, smirking as the warriors of Yuuei realized they had been trapped.

"You guys are complete fools, aren't you?" barked Midnight with a lustrous, arrogant voice. Mina, Iida and Tokoyami crumbled to the floor, unconscious. The rest watched the scene unfold with blurry eyes. "Did you think I didn't see the ants sneaking into my fortress? You should thank the Moon Fairy for tugging at my precious vines earlier, or else I would have never noticed."

The evil leader was, for a reason, letting them all recollect themselves and sit up to realize the ceiling was open, rocks falling down on them while the black-haired necromancer took out her cursed staff. Midoriya winced in pain. "And you didn't dare send your useless guards to us? You truly are a coward."

His words were daringly brave considering this woman led an illegal empire based around death and deceit. Midnight liked that spurt of cockiness, and licked her lips. "It's not you guys I'm looking for. I'm just waiting for the Moon Fairy to show up."

Todoroki knew that nickname and gasped hoarsely. "Uraraka? What do you have to do with her?"

Suddenly, Midnight barreled them all with a swipe of her staff, sending them towards the spiky vines that had begun to drag around the walls of the facility, hindering any risky move the leader could pull. Midnight knew about Midoriya's spiels and how he liked to jump around, and she had come ready to take them all on. She wouldn't lose.

The four warriors cried out in pain, but it wasn't enough to make them double over, just as Midnight expected. Her eyes narrowed an inch when she saw this little warning attack hadn't gone as expected. Frowning, she commanded her vines to roll around the warriors' weapons wrists so they'd let go of their weapons, which they did, and when the weaponry fell down, the vines hooked around their ankles and tugged up until the four were dangling upside down.

They seemed unaffected by this. And again, Midnight knew this. And yet again, she had no interest in harming them, but _her_.

"I had thought that if I played with her friends a little bit, it'd be fun and she would come out, but I guess she is just still as shy as ever, isn't she? I guess I'll have to press a bit harder." spoke the woman, glaring at them.

Then, she hit the floor with the tip of her staff to make a surge of fire run deep through the vines and start burning the surface of the plants, hissing to get to the heroes' ankles at a blistering velocity. Soon enough, the fires surfaced from within the ground, vines shaking up, and starting to whip in their direction to blister and burn them to ashes.

One of those whips surged in Midoriya's direction and pierced through his shoulder, causing the leader to cry out in pain. The others shouted his name in panic as the leader wiggled, only hurting himself further as he wiggled into the thorns. Smirking, Midnight was decided to poke more holes into that divine body of his.

However, a shadow appeared behind her at breakneck speed, eyes wide in fury and staff cast, ready to snap her neck before she could take another step in their direction. One of the windows had been shattered, shards on the ground. Before Midnight could respond to this, she was sent to the contrary wall with a physical kick, flying past the heroes and landing with a painful gasp.

The intruder cupped her stomach, breathing for air. "Uraraka!" called Asui, seeing her injuries being reopened by this sudden movement. Deku's shoulder was also pouring blood very slowly, staining his green uniform. She tried to drive the poison out of her own body with her water-based magic, but Midnight's grip on them was so tight Asui was having issues breathing.

Uraraka slammed her foot on the ground to make the ground quake so the weapons would jump up to the warriors' height. Some of them had their arms freed, like Todoroki, who grabbed his sword and cut the burning vines until they were nothing but a chopped mess. Midoriya utilized the opportunity to also slice his in half, and when the vines' skin had burned thin enough, Yaoyorozu created a sword to cut them as well. Midoriya helped Asui out of it as well.

The group of warriors rejoined around Uraraka, smiling confidently. Midoriya had to chalk the smile up through the pain, and while Uraraka's body heaved up and down in a panting mess, her wound reopened despite Shinsou's clumsy caretaking. Asui lay her hands on Midoriya's shoulder and Uraraka's back, silently curing them.

Midnight got up from the rubble. Her hand wiped a small stain of poison away from her chin. "Tch. I don't give a damn about you kids." her murderous glare was directed at Uraraka, whose eyes had turned into a familiar tone of steel. "I'm only here for the Moon Fairy. She's the only one that can take me down this time."

Todoroki's sword was drawn towards her. It didn't look like the poison was slowly exhausting Midnight's body like it was tiring theirs. Fortunately, Asui was working on that aspect now while Yaoyorozu examined their surroundings with great care, trying to find a cranny of that wall they could use against that woman.

She looked so fixated on Uraraka it was difficult to know how she would fight. It seemed to them that if they tried to attack her, Midnight would swat them off easily and just focus on the sorcerer. It turned out that it wouldn't be a matter of who was the strongest, but of untangling those hissing hyenas from one another.

Of course, everyone knew they had something personal with the other. Uraraka had had an unsuccessful clash with her in the past, and Midnight had sworn vendetta against her who threatened to ruin her business.

Weirdly enough, she wasn't going for a direct kill and striking at her weakest points like the true strategist she was. Midnight was letting Uraraka act. She either thought she had the upper hand or had a trick up her sleeve. None of them were good news.

"I don't know who you think you are, but it's over, Midnight!" Uraraka bellowed, frowning. "Our guild has surrounded the fortress and the factory has been taken care of, along with some of your workers down there." at the mention of that, Uraraka peered over Midnight's shoulder into the stairs. Where had those three gone? "We also have Jack with us, it's over!"

Midnight didn't look surprised by this. "Oh, you got Kyouka with you? Unsurprising. She was always threatening me with empty lies about how you'd come save her. I guess they weren't as empty as I expect−"

A big gust of fire roared in her direction, causing her boots to skid against the pavement and her skin to blister momentarily. But, as soon as the fire reached her, it was being knocked back at Todoroki in the form of a blaze of thunderbolts, stopped by a makeshift shield of wood Yaoyorozu created.

Uraraka had forgotten that she was an actual necromancer that could absorb all sorts of magic. Midnight's eyes had turned into a dark, wicked glare as her hand stood outstretched, fingertips burnt from the surge of magic she had taken in. The heat had been soaring, making her pant a little. "I told you to _not_ interfere, did I?" her voice was quiet and eerie, a warning.

Midoriya spoke up. "We will not let anybody harm a friend that is trying to protect us." he stepped right in front of Uraraka, his back to her. He he heard the girl whisper his name in wonder. "She has been gone for a long time. But she's protecting us. So, if you want to harm her or any of us…"

Todoroki, Yaoyorozu and Asui also stepped around the girl, frowning. Uraraka was flabbergasted by this, eyes wide in surprise. The hand on her tummy went to cradle her poor beating heart. A pained expression was itched into her face. It felt like her heart was throbbing within her.

Yaoyorozu took out her polished powerful sword and yelled with her friends. "You're going to have to kill us first!"

Uraraka was taken aback by this sudden outburst of courage from her friends. Midnight though, she didn't look so convinced. Her grip on the staff tightened. "I'm not sure how a bunch of kids is going to step between us. I can see her fangs showing already. Stop meddling or I'll make sure you four shut up forever." her threat was solid. "Besides, it looks like Midoriya's arm is about to fall off."

The boy was, indeed, clutching his shoulder with a wince sketched in his features. His body was sagging slightly, not enough to be noticed by the naked eye. He still looked exhausted by the poison, and Midnight wouldn't let them stay still to cure each other.

Uraraka read the situation really quick and had decided to step in before Todoroki took a few steps forward. His back shielded the group from seeing the necromancer. "Stop talking, Midnight. Our leaders ordered us to protect Uraraka. Whatever issues you have with her, you'll have to get through us first."

As the knight tugged his gloves further in, Midnight couldn't help but talk big again. "So you're telling me you're some sort of menace? You can't use sorcery against me. What the hell are you doing to do then?"

Todoroki's right side started issuing flames as his dark navy coat floated away in the wind. "Stop talking already!" he threw his hand forward again, shooting fire in her direction that roared like a demon, his frown deep and focused. Midnight shook her head and took a step forward to deflect and absorb the magic energy, blistering her fingers as she did so.

Unbeknownst to her, a figure had sneaked from the team and successfully flashed behind her like a lighting bolt, grunting as she gave Midnight a hard kick to the neck, plummeting her to the ground as the fire erupted from within her and boiled her body momentarily. The woman screeched at the pain, and Uraraka stood before her with Todoroki as she tried to tame the fire magic within her.

"Is that… all?"

Uraraka didn't have a clear answer. As the dark leader throbbed at their feet, the only thing that crossed her mind was that things were never this easy. Midnight was being too easy on them. It could also be that she was just more menacing than strong, but just when that sole idea was brought to mind, the leader stopped convulsing.

She went eerily still. "Is it…?" Midoriya stepped towards them. "It can't be, right?"

Suddenly, a laugh came from that woman, who was still lying motionless on the floor. Todoroki readied his hand again. "What in the world is so funny, Midnight?"

"You children are so naïve…" mumbled she, as if mocking them all. "How is it possible you try to come in and defend that woman… you don't know a single thing. You know absolutely nothing!" she bellowed, turning her body around to face them. Something was not right about her calm expression, and how blood was dripping down her forehead.

Uraraka was certain they had succeeded yet something was wrong. She should have realized from the first moment. The Jirous _never_ absorbed fire magic. It was an abrasive element for their kind, and absorbing it would only hurt her, like it was doing now, killing her from the inside. Maybe not visibly, but their insides would be churned. The Jirous always dodged those sorts of magic.

It would only take so long until Midnight snapped and released the fire within her.

So enthralled in her turmoil, Uraraka failed to realize the Midnight's hand was pressed had against the ground, and before anyone could move away, the ceiling gave up right above them, pieces of rock and vines crumbling to big chunks of debris. The attack came down so fast all they had time to do was gasp and let out screams of horror right before being buried under the rubble and poisonous plants.

Only one person was left unscathed. The dark leader reached for Uraraka's ankle and threw her to the opposite wall, hurting her greatly with the impact but also saving her from a brush with death.

Midnight coughed out, spitting a ghastly amount of boiling blood, and then wavered to stand up and and climb up the rubble of debris, past the sorcerer's bodies and closer to the girl. Her march was slow, cold, silent and as terrifying as the murmur of a snake. Her heels tapped with the broken blanket of pebbles, grainy, enveloped in a cloud of dust.

When Uraraka got back up on her feet, panting, her eyes widened at the sight of blood seeping from underneath the spiky, dusty rocks. Light hit on the rubble and the victorious witch as she travelled down the mount.

The woman looked serious now… "No." panted Uraraka, her eyes zeroed on the rubble and blood. Her heart was beating a hundred miles per hour, a marathon occurring in her heart at the thought of her friends… no, _no!_ It could not be!

Midnight's victorious stance, however, told another story. "I told you I'd get rid of your friends if they didn't behave. Your ties to people are again putting them in danger. After all this time, you're still a damn fool, Uraraka." cursed Midnight. She was visibly put off by her kneeling position, angered at her weakness, watching as the brunette realized her friends, just like that, could be… gone.

"It can't be." mumbled Uraraka finally gathering her wits to stand up again. Her expression had been contorted into one of temporary disbelief that transformed into uncontrolled anger. "I can't be!"

Seeing her start to lose it, Midnight smirked. Her staff was summoned to her arm instantly. "You're still a fool, after all this time. It would have been better if you killed them off yourself to spare their lives. In this world, it's death what awaits you. Dead in the cold, rainy cemetery."

Uraraka bared her teeth at the menacing woman. "No. It's not−"

"I got to them before you could. I might have made you a−"

Uraraka was right before the leader and with the bat of a lash, the leader being kicked back into the mount and debris by the furious mage. The young girl panted, fingers curled into fists as a sudden surge of revenge spiralled within her. Much to her chagrin, the rocks moved as Midnight surfaced from the rubble and stood up. She wiped a small smudge of dirt off her jaw, and from the back of her uniform she took a black fan.

Her expression had changed now. She didn't look as merciful as she had before.

With a big swipe of her fan, the debris from behind her was picked up and thrown in Uraraka's direction, who tried to defend herself with a shield screen but was thrown back by the small sharp meteorites that were too heavy to hold back. The shower hit her like an avalanche, making her dizzy and whimper at the sharp debris being thrown at her

Uraraka was too weak at the moment to use too much magic, and her body limped with it. A rock hit on her shoulder blade and a small clicking sound resonated in her ears, making her scream out in pain and grab her shoulder. At this, Uraraka quickly slapped a hand on the shoulder, slowly fixing the broken joint while looking forward in attention. The leader was walking forward from the fog, her fan open before her mouth and speaking in a mysteriously coy voice.

"Maybe you aren't suited for your mission." she spoke, looking down on her. "If you aren't going to do what you were created for, then you should as well die. And it'd be my pleasure to give that man a lesson on who to play with, destroying his puppet!"

Uraraka's eyes widened in horror when she tried to move her arm in order to defend herself, but the leader's fan was wrapped in sparks and she was looking at her with a glare that pretty much buried a grave for her. Uraraka tried to get up, but she was so shell-shocked and momentarily terrified that for the first time, her knees gave up beneath her.

For the first time ever, Uraraka could not _move_. It was over.

"Say your last words, misguided puppet." Uraraka's head was low, her knees bent on the floor and hands on her lap. "And become one with the soil."

Uraraka's eyes were screwed shut as she heard the zip-zapping of the bolds running deep within the fan, ready to end her life. Her body grew cold, numb and so terrified. She had been cornered to kneel down before her enemy, one that was now looking at her as if she was an ant to be crushed.

She braced herself, read for the thousand bolts to crack through her body and to taste the blood on her own tongue, a flavor so unnatural she knew this was what death felt like.

But nothing came. Instead, she heard a gutural gasp and the drip-dropping of blood. Before her, a big spade had pierced through Midnight's stomach, blood spilling to the floor and soaking her uniform. The leader was looking up at the attack in disbelief, shocked. Behind this exchange, Yaoyorozu had stood up and created a long weapon to strike her with, and the night was now panting as the spade stuck out of her side.

After the attack had been done, she crumbled to her knees, panting. Midoroya stood up as well, red lights cracking around his body. The remaining rubble had been cleared to reveal the still standing heroes, their eyes fiercer than before. Midoriya saw the woman fall to her knees, and then fall on her back as Uraraka got to feet once more.

"You can try to wipe us out." he adjusted his gloves around his hands. "But we will not let a broken castle hold us back!" Uraraka stepped in their direction, wincing as she did so, still a bit overwhelmed by her brush with death and her shoulder throbbing. "Asui, help Yaoyorozu and Uraraka out, then try to get Iida and the rest back on their feet."

"Will do."

Todoroki and Midoriya walked to the fallen leader, who was gushing blood like a torrent. The knight, however had other plans. His hand was calling out fire to finish that woman off, just in case she woke up. However, Midoriya didn't allow him to attack her, an arm stopping his steps.

"Hold on." the dark leader started shaking, and blood continued pooling. The air had gone cold around them, wrapping them in a tense atmosphere of suspicion. "Something is wrong."

Out of the blue, the dying woman started chuckling, giggling, and then erupted into boundless joyful laughter. The abnormal sound surprised the two warriors to the point they jumped back to stand right next to their people. Meanwhile, Midnight started getting up, blood still dripping down her body, fan shaking in her grasp.

She was still laughing.

"Man, these kids are so damn annoying. What a pest." she said to nobody, speaking to the air. "Look at this mess. I'm losing so much blood, so slowly… this is bad news!" when she turned around, the guild mates found out that she was licking the blood out of her hands, a glint of sadistic need for revenge twinkling in her narrowed eyes. "You're over."

This was no longer a necromancer. Those were the eyes of a clear, sick murderer.

The leader moved her fan behind herself and in no time, the crimson and black instrument had grown in size. It was spread behind the leader as she held it behind her, and the fabric finally tapped the ground as the leader looked at them defiantly. It was a look that was telling them to get ready, because they had messed with the wrong person.

"I'm already tired of this body. It's… not enough for the power throbbing inside of me." the woman's hair moved with the wind as a powerful storm started brewing outside. The fan was issuing a cold fog. With the last traces of sunlight, light hit the neck of the leader and the skin gleamed wherever the sun hit.

Uraraka urged her friends to take a step back. The ground started shaking under their feet in a cry for help. Her expression turned into a sadistic frown and grin, showing her fangs. "I guess I'll teach that man and his puppet a lesson!"

When her body started convulsing and gross noises of skin tearing apart echoed, Uraraka took her staff out again and jumped back. Everyone adopted fighting stances, weapons out and frowning with their eyes glued to the transforming leader, who was enshrouded in fog and increasingly animalistic bellows of power.

There had been a twist to the story.

Midnight was _not_ human. She was a _demon_ , just like the ones she had been holding captive under this very earth. Midoriya grimaced as the fog started clearing, and as the shrieks grew louder, their hold on their weapons grew tighter. Suddenly, two small claws started clearing the fog away, and the beast that was revealed was _terrifying_.

A massive bee fluttered above them, almost as big as the wall of the fortress and shrieking for the offenders to go away. The claws were gleaming under the dim thunderbolts that struck in the distance. Midnight's eyes were now pure red, big and bulbous like those of a real insect. A big hook at the bottom in the fashion of a sting promised the worst of bruises. Her wings were dark and thin, her body hard like stone and curvy like the handle of a knife.

Rain was falling hard in the background as Uraraka whispered in disbelief. "This is… the true _Hive Queen_."

The queen screamed one last time before the monster tried to tackle them all, piercing the ground with its claws of metal. Uraraka and Asui jumped away in time, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu slid under her body easily, but Todoroki had been the brave one to let her pin him down.

Her fangs were bared and drool leaked down her foul mouth, but Todoroki slammed his hand on her belly and started burning intensely, making the massive bee stumble back and struggle to fly. Midnight shook her head to shake the dizzyness away, but the blistering mark was still there. Todoroki leaped back to the others' level as the bee also retreated.

The beast hissed. When she talked, her voice seemed to be distorted, as if it held the lives of others inside. "You will never get away with this! I will eat you little kids ali− AH!"

Midnight was knocked back again when a large whip rolled around her body and a pair of strong arms used the momentum to smash her body against the stone, a whip that was shortly after covered in sparks thanks to Kaminari's help. The bee attempted to wiggle free, but it was paralyzed for a while.

Jack ran to her friends as they recovered from this attack. Midoriya and the rest scampered towards her. "Jack! I mean… can we still call you that way?"

Jack smiled a little. "Of course you can, but now is not the moment to talk about that." soon enough, she saw Uraraka between them, and Jack gently walked to the girl to hug her tightly, arms curled around her as Uraraka blinked in surprise. "I'm… so glad you are safe." her voice was almost a whimper. "We were so worried…"

Asui inspected Uraraka's wound with a skeptical look. The mage herself was still standing a bit awkwardly. "Saying she's safe is a bit of a stretch."

Jack's eyes were directed at the paralyzed bee, who was wiggling still for room. She could see the little control they had over her was starting to be lost. They had to act quickly. "What even is this monster? How did it get here?"

Nobody knew what to say. Would Jack believe this freak of nature was none other than her own mother? How would the hunter react to this? Her eyes were narrowed towards the beast in utter confusion. She didn't know this demon, this monster.

The alchemist, the boldest one of them all, spoke up without hesitation. "It's Midnight. She's a demon, but she was disguised as a human." Asui cocked her head towards the beast. The whip was starting to be torn apart, the ripping sounds startled the heroes.

The Jirou member stared in disbelief and shock at the monstrosity that bellowed in pain. That… it didn't sound like her mother. It didn't sound like the leader of her family, like the dark spiky umbrella that had sheltered her from the constant rain that had surrounded her everywhere she went. That woman… this demon. It couldn't be, right?

But… it just was. Midnight had always been a threat to society, and Jack had been too much of a coward to stand up to her. Nonetheless, they were at time of war now. And Jack had to make whatever changes necessary to win it.

Jack's whip finally snapped when the claws of the demon dug into them, and Midnight finally broke free. She was panting, claws now on the ground for some leverage to try and regain control over her cloudy sight. She was shaking her head to clear out the confusion, yet Jack had other plans. "Kirishima, the whip!"

The other male hunter ran towards them, and threw the torn yet still long whip in Jack's direction. She took a step forward, then another, until she was standing at the front of the group with the other end of the black whip on her other hand. She gave the whip a hard yank, snarling.

"I'm sorry, mother." she mumbled between gritted teeth. "But it's time to prove what a Jirou's name as a beast hunter is worth."

The bee shook in her flight until her hovering was stable enough. There was a confused buzzing in the air, and the more she hurt, the angrier Midnight felt. Her hard carcass of a skin was steaming a thin layer of smoke, her body warm and tingling. In that state of daze and overpowering, her body was harder and harder to maintain out of control.

But Jack was there to change that. She took another step forward, and grabbed one of Midnight's sharp claws to bring her back to the ground again. The whip rolled around her claw immediately, but the moment she started tugging her down, Midnight cut it in half. The momentum of the pull knocked Jack backwards, but before the enemy could take advantage of this, Uraraka was already before her.

The beast sent a dark light beam in her direction, screaming, and Uraraka quickly deflected it with a plasma shield. However, the energy wasn't absorbed, but deflected, and the beam landed on one of the walls of the hallway. From the corner of her eye, she saw Asui take Tokoyami out of the fortress by sneaking out of that hole.

Midnight saw this, but before she could chase them Todoroki sent his soaring flames towards her once more. This time though, the flames only scorched her skin lightly, causing the bee to hiss at the interruption. It gave enough time for Asui to escape.

"Her skin is getting harder with each magic attack we use." stated Midoriya. He set a foot back, another forward, and pointed his sword at her. Uraraka had never seen his sword shine this bright, as if brimming with remains of a god inside of it. "We need to break that shell of hers, or we will never make it out alive!"

In response, the bee shrieked again. Kirishima padded close to them, making his fists clash in what Uraraka knew to be a 'manly pose'. She saw now that he had Kaminari's left sleeve wrapped around his arm, and smiled a little. But now wasn't the time to smile. "We need to use physical attacks, right?"

"We gotta bring her back to the ground!" Kirishima readied his knives on in his hand. He made them spin, feeling the leader of the handles on his calloused hands. "We can't let her have the upper hand!"

"You fools!" shrieked Midnight, her body tensing and her claws open. "Do you think you can defeat the Hive Queen so easily!?" her body started glowing in a treacherous and fearsome power, one that started overpowering the leader herself. It seemed like the delicacy of strategy and intuition was lost to her fear of losing this great empire she had built.

Her shaking body released a pitched noise, and the leader released another screech of dominance, her control over her body completely lost. "Think _again_!"

From her mouth she shot a powerful laser beam that was directed right in Uraraka's direction, but she quickly put up a high shield to absorb the impact. Midnight was using her last remaining control over her demonic body to defeat them before she went into overdrive, and the attack was too strong for the sorcerer to withstand. Her feet were starting to skid against the ground, Uraraka felt like her body would bend in twain if she continued with this any longer.

Out of instinct, she ducked out of the beam's way, just as her comrades did. All, but one.

There was a scream of blank and horrible pain coming from behind her, and as soon as it echoed in everyone's ears, the laser beam disappeared. Jack clutched a part of her chest with a contorted expression of terror, making Uraraka's eyes widen at the amount of blood that was pouring between her trembling fingers. Everyone turned to look at her with terrified looks.

"Jack!" shrieked Yaoyorozu, going to her side. A few feet away, the wrecking bee stared at the scene in silence. Everyone circled around her. Absolutely everyone was panicking at the sight of how much blood was tainting her clothes. It was horrifying. "Please, hold out! Uraraka!"

"Yes!" she immediately crouched to put her palm over the wound to stop the bleeding. However, her ears picked up the buzz of the beast again, and knew that Midnight was getting angry again.

"What…" she growled menacingly, then shrieked again. This sound actually picked up a breeze inside the fortress, the wind moved Uraraka's hair as she looked at Midnight, eyes wide and hand on her hat. The dread that flooded Uraraka dove beyond the bones. "what the hell have you done!?"

Everybody covered their ears as a high pitch noise ran deep through the fortress and branched into their hearts. Uraraka heard the distant flapping of wings, and seeing how Midoriya's eyes widened, he knew something was up. Jack slumped over, coughing out a great deal of blood that splattered on the floor and left a gross stink of metal.

The rain was only getting harder and harder outside. The fortress was cold like the prison of a hollow family, like a child without a heart or the sky without a sun. As the fortress bathed in the darkness of the storm outside, thunder rolling outside, Midnight's true nature surfaced, the nature of a bloodthirsty demon that could no longer see a daughter in front of her.

"You will pay!" the distorted voice of the leader dripped with venom, with hatred, the many lives inside that gem uniting with the sole purpose of destruction. The power in that gem, the one posed on her forehead, was vibrating with greed, and making the storm outside thrive. "You will _n_ ev _er_ get a _way_ w _ith_ _ **this**_!"

Uraraka looked at Jack in her arms, whose eyes were closing, and whipped her head to Asui, who was rushing to her. "You need to take care of this! Take Jack away from here and stop the bleeding!"

Asui took Jack's body in her arms and nodded, already applying magic to stop the bleeding again and scampering back to a corner. Midnight saw this, but before she could do anything, Uraraka swung her staff in her direction to send all the fallen debris from before in her direction, along with a rain of sparks extracted from the storm outside. Her feelings were brimming with fury, and with that, her control over magic was quivering with stability, but thriving with power and range.

Midoriya's body was surrounded with streaks of red light, and once the rain of magic was over, he jumped up in the air in slow motion, spun around and with a deep scowl and a loud grunt, he dove in to give the monster a dangerously hard punch on the belly, making it stagger back and yell in pain. The leader retreated back to his friends, just to see a quick shadow glitch in time past him.

A quick shadow arrived from behind at a staggering speed to where Midnight was supposed to land, an incantation circle surrounding her feet. A shadow covered half her face, her eyes gleamed in fury at this creature with a glare that promised revenge. With her staff in hand, Uraraka propelled herself up with a battle cry to send the monster back again, giving it a tough kick on the back to allign it where she wanted.

As the monster fell right where Uraraka needed it to be, she drove her staff into the concrete while in mid air, and a blinding white circle started burning right under the monster's location. Uraraka locked the creature in and impulsed herself to a side, skidding to her knees as she held her hat down, looking at the beast from the corner of her sight, dark.

A blinding beam of light shot right through the bee's side and stuck through the roof and into the sky, into the storm, causing Midnight to squirm and let a pure scream of agony at the torture. The beam didn't let up and made blood pour out of the demon's hard carcass like a steady waterfall. The thick crimson substance fell on the floor from her mouth, eyes twitching and the gem wiggling out of control. The bee convulsed, fluttered in terror, and confusion as the many powers within her started losing control, her mind going blank.

Everything inside of her was being destroyed in a slowburn torture that made all her organs twist and yell in terror and pain. The storm outside was only getting worse, the world seemed to be reaching an ending as thunder only grew closer to the fortress. But the worst was about to come.

Suddenly, a hard crash threw down the whole wall of the fortress as a tail whipped destroyed all in its way. Debris started falling down from it, dust was picked up, and a familiar red muzzle peeked in as it roared in a mighty, kingly growl of dominance. A familiar figure was perched on its neck, crouched with his hands up and a shit-eating grin.

Bakugou frowned at the sight, but his smirk was still there. "Oi! You bastards wanted to have all the fucking fun, didn't you?" bellowed the blond, pointing at the monstrosity that was squirming on the ground. "Amelie! Burn that bitch to the ground!"

What ensued next was pure and uncontrolled havoc. Uraraka conjured a quick shield for her comrades that were far away from her while she leaped to be right under the dragon's wing. Amelie shot out a tornado of fire that enveloped the whole room, roasting the dying bee alive as it wailed and screeched in pain, deafening and making the warriors' hearts shake. The creature wiggled to get out of the boiling floor, but she was surrounded by fire everywhere her eyes reached.

Midnight was being boiled and burnt to death. The gem begun to wither, the storm outside lost power until all that remained were the fires on the trees and the fire that Amelie had provoked. The sun shone again in what restarted as a gloomy, cloudy day.

The fires started dying around Midnight, but the vines that had ran deep under the building had been caught on fire as well, plus the inestability Amelie had caused with her entrance. Soon enough, there was a loud crash outside, and the building was starting to shake as it announced it'd be burning down to the ground and crash down, too, in its own twisted irony.

When the fires were off the demon, all that remained was a blood-stained Midnight laying on the ground. Besides her, a pit had been open to the underground factory that still continued burning. Debris was falling down to the abyss and consuming all that it could take. The Jirou lair would end up falling down into the pit.

When it was safe to walk, Uraraka stepped out of under Amelie's wing. Nobody dared move but her. Anyone would have expected the girl to give Midnigh a kick in the right, fated direction. Instead, the sorcerer knelt right by the woman, hands on her lap and panting.

When Midnight spoke, it was barely a whisper.

"You and your master… are similar, in a way." she said. A weak laugh hung from her chapped and busted lips. "I guess that maybe you are younger and a bit brazen. But… he educated you like this. When I started working with him… he said you would surprise me."

The woman glanced at Uraraka, who was glaring daggers into her in silence and with a set of eyes that could be mistaken as calm and serene. A fire of her own was being cooked in that gaze of hers.

The dark leader chuckled. "He wasn't wrong." her voice was now a whisper, speaking clearly. She stared into the ceiling as it started falling down. She was… smiling. "He has his own way around things, you know. He doesn't like people getting in his way… that impatient, foolish man." her tone held a certain light Uraraka hadn't seen before. "I started being a hinder, I guess. If that wasn't the case, you wouldn't be here."

Confused, Uraraka spoke. "I don't get it. Master sent me here… what for? Is it even worth it?"

The woman spit out a bead of blood. "I know what he is planning and… it's not good. Aizawa… that man has you where he wants you to be. It's never been about what you want, has it? I couldn't let you reach him." Midnight's eyes narrowed in regret. "If you do… you'll make the same mistake again. But I guess I'm just another puppet… one of the many."

Uraraka didn't understand anything. "The same mistake? What do you mean?"

"You don't get it yet. I failed at stopping you so… it seems you'll find out very soon. I'm just a puppet. And I have played my role." a piece of ceiling fell and leaked some blue into the fortress. She smiled. "Maybe, you are one too… but that's for the high and mighty to decide."

Uraraka's hands trembled on her lap, her eyes were narrowed in sheer bewilderment. Why was she so vague? Was she insinuating Aizawa was manipulating everybody? With what purpose, then?

Midnight's eyes turned to Uraraka's and she found exactly what she was looking for. "If I allowed you to live… things wouldn't have ended well. They never do, or at least that's what he said." her hands curled into a fist. Blood was soaking the floor and reaching Uraraka's clothes. "I just wanted to be queen for a while, you know. But now that you're here, there will be no place left for anybody."

Their eyes met once again.

"So… your mind's made up, huh? You're going to do it."

Something clicked inside of her and it made the sorcerer shudder, feeling observed. The dying necromancer never said anything about that, just… stared with lifeless eyes. Her mouth was still moving.

"I can't blame you… what you've been through… what Ochako's been through. It's a lot, huh? You're two halves of the same coin." Uraraka's eyes didn't move from her face. Her hands were trembling even more now. "After all, I'm the dying proof of how humankind is rotten to the core, am I not? I tried my best to stop you but… I failed. Again."

There were staggering steps behind them and voices trying to get the warrior back to her resting place, but clutching her slightly leaking wound, Jack spoke up. "Mother…"

Uraraka looked up, eyes wide, and scooted to a side while processing what Midnight was saying. "Kyouka… you're looking healthy. Who would have thought it, huh."

The hunter coughed out again, bending over slightly. Her blood marred Midnight's uniform as she spit out some of that thick liquid. "Why… why did you do this, Mother? We could have had a family, a happy home, and not this. Never this."

Midnight's eyes flickered to Uraraka, then to her daughter. "I had a mission to do. Or… I had somebody to shake off my hairs. A bad old man doesn't like it when his associates argue with him about existential matters. I have always been rebellious… just like you."

Kyouka's shoulders shook at those nostalgic words. This woman was a villain, a monster… but families never regarded good or bad. Her bloody hand took her mother's gingerly. "You could have stayed silent… none of this would have happened!"

"There are things that are better left forgotten… but don't worry, sweetheart." Jack took the hand to her cheek, and Midnight curled her digits into her daughter's cheek. "Your friend right here… she will take over soon enough."

Both warriors' bodies stilled at this. "What do you−"

Jack started to violently convulse and cough, on her knees now as her blood mixed with Midnight's. Her chest wound was now gushing blood again, open as Asui's seal disappeared. "It doesn't look like you'll live much longer to see it happen… but it would be a glorious display I bet."

Uraraka tried to start curing the wound again, but Jack shook her hand off. "Stop! Stop this… you're making no goddamn sense!"

Uraraka turned around and got up as Midnight started breathing more erratically, her eyes fluttering shut. The leader's grasp on the world was becoming more fragile, the ceiling was floating more and more away, her body was growing cold and numb… Uraraka wouldn't let Jack see this. "Asui!"

The alchemist leaped and tried to take Jack away again, frowning because she shouldn't have let Jack see her mother once more, above all when the former was hurt. The hunter wiggled for freedom. A heartbroken expression surfaced across Jack's bloodshot eyes. "Mother!"

It was horribly sad to see the hunter be taken away from her mother, who didn't move an inch for her daughter. She was just a heartless as she behaved, and it made the sorcerer frown as she looked down at her. "You are right. You are just scum!"

"The fire is… killing my organs slowly. It's warm. I haven't felt that in a long time." mumbled the leader. She was still smiling. It had no evil intent behind it. "I have already played my part in this charade. If you go back… you'll find nothing. There's no way out of this mess. The lines are too tangled and messy now. It's up to you to change that now. You know that at this rate, there's only one solution, right?"

Before Uraraka could ask, once again, what Midnight meant with all that bullshit, a calloused hand clamped on her shoulder. "Don't listen to her, roundcheeks."

Bakugou's warm hand made her stop. Uraraka was overcome with the need to swat it away again and not depend from him. She didn't. Instead, she stepped out of Bakugou's hold and put a foot over Midnight's arm. The fire was thriving deep inside the decaying underground facility. That, Uraraka decided, would be Midnight's grave.

But Midnight's words resonated within her. And she knew this.

"You'll soon realize… that there is no way out of this. And you will see what he wants from you. What he wants you to do."

Bakugou really tried to intervene and ask what that was about. He was too late.

Everyone watched as Uraraka nudged the decaying body of the leader and made it roll further closer to the crevice. The fires were cracking underneath, as if greedy to welcome Midnight into their arms. Before Uraraka pushed her further, a slow whisper reached Uraraka's ears.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "for what she is about to do."

And then, Uraraka remembered all she had done to the people around her. Torturing Bakugou's mind with the memory of his mother, almost killed her own daughter, toyed with the lives of thousands just for power and had turned them into monsters without a heart. It pushed her forward. It pushed Midnight past the ledge and into the burning abyss, carrying Uraraka's mission with her.

Midnight's body fell silently into the crumbling factory, and with her did the legacy of the Jirou clan. The fortress was shaking as it reached it weakest limits and welcomed Midnight into the darkest pits of hell.

Nobody dared speak a word after that.

In the background, there was another faint cough and a groan. Uraraka and Bakugou turned their heads from the fires to see everyone had gathered around Jack, forming a circle as Asui cradled her to her chest. Uraraka noticed the alchemist's hand wasn't on the pouring wound anymore.

"Why aren't you curing her?" asked Uraraka. Asui's hand glowed on Jack's chest for a second, but the energy flickered and died seconds later. The brunette sorcerer realized something in that exact moment.

"Midnight had the form of a demon when she attacked. Her magic attacks were cursed." Asui's voice was breaking down like a dam giving in to the pressure of a river. "We can only hold her blood back from flowing but… it will only make things worse, ribbit."

Everyone's breath was caught in their throats and the small gasps from the warriors filled the crumbling fortress. It wouldn't be long until they had to run away from the scene. However, what Asui was probably implying meant that not all of them would make it out alive.

Yaoyorozu was the first to speak. Her voice was shaking. "We… what are you implying?" the alchemist never responded, just looked down at her friend as life seeped away from the hunter. Her lips were parted, a perpetual groan escaping her lips as she bled to death. Her arms were limping on her sides, and her eyes were being screwed shut further with each beam of sunlight that hit her.

"We… we can't give up now!" exclaimed Midoriya. Uraraka and Bakugou stared at the scene with horror. They could hear the tears in their leader's voice, yet nobody could bring themselves to tell him everything would be fine. Nothing was fine. "We can stop the bleeding and take her to Shuzenji! She must be around the Capital still! We can−!"

"You… won't make it in time."

Jack's eyes were still closed as she spoke. It was no more than a whisper but it resonated throughout the whole space. "The forest is burning down. Soon, you will… you can't get away in time carrying me and curing me. You have to get away from here before this place collapses." her eyes opened a crack, seeing the pitiful look in everyone's eyes. "And you know this."

Midoriya frowned at her negative demeanor, refusing to let tears fall down. "We won't leave you here! Guys, we gotta…" nobody was moving. Instead, they were looking down, heads bowed, accepting the hunter's fate in silence. Not even Bakugou was revolting against this. "Guys?"

"She… is right." mumbled Asui, cradling the girl closer to her chest. Feeble tears started rolling down her soft cheeks, and a sob escaped her dry throat. "She will die on the way to a safe spot, and very possibly, we will die as well. We… we won't make it."

Bakugou tried to fight the view he was seeing by speaking up again, harsh and brazen. "We gotta find a way, damnit!" he turned around, desperate, and crushed Uraraka's shaking shoulders with his own trembling hands. "You gotta do something! I bet you know a way to save her!"

His desperate need to protect a guild mate he was fond of betrayed the fortitude of his soul, one he was trying to put up in his eyes. Uraraka knew there was nothing they could do. She knew that, deep inside, Bakugou knew this too. "Bakugou−"

"Do something!" he gave her a shake. His frown was full of ire and impatience. "Aren't you supposed to be a high class sorcerer? Fucking prove your worth!" his voice was a bellow that, in her vulnerable state, made Uraraka stagger with her words more than usual.

"I can't do anything, Bakugou!" everyone's hopes went down a little bit more. "If what Asui said is actually true, there is nothing any of us can do!"

Midoriya finally stopped fighting it and listened to the other sorcerer. His brows were dent down in disappointment and devastation as a tear finally rolled down his face. "N-Nothing?"

Uraraka pursed her lips and her frame sagged over a little in defeat. Her eyes were lost in the lake of blood that was surrounding Jack's body. "Nothing."

The only thing that was heard after that word was Uraraka falling to her knees right by Jack, her knees splashing on the blood, and the murmur of Jack's whimpers as pain cracked through her skin momentarily, then passed. The world around her was becoming delicate and faint, she couldn't breathe well with a part of her lung destroyed, and she was well aware that her insides were flooding.

Her eyes became increasingly heavy, and the birds outside became a low, distant jingle. "I… thank you all for all the time you gave me in this place. They were my most joyful days, even when… Bakugou just wanted to beat our−"

She went into a coughing fit. Nobody said anything. They allowed her to continue. In silence, tears were steadily falling down most faces in the room, hearts breaking and hope shattered at the view.

"I'm sorry for… letting myself be scared. For giving in. For letting… my blood win and turn against me." she let out a small chuckle that made Kaminari and Yaoyorozu fall to their knees. They looked at Jack from Asui's side, and each held one of her hands. Uraraka scooted to Kaminari's side, taking his hand so he could borrow strength from her.

He squeezed Uraraka's and Jack's hand in a painful, grieving moment.

Soon enough, everyone was standing close together, looking at Jack and imprinting the last sparks of joy in her eyes as she faded away, but a smile was lingering in her face. "I'm glad… I got to meet all of you. And that I at least… got to spend my last moments with all of you."

A sob broke free from Yaoyorozu's throat as her silent crying turned into a low, quiet wailing. The warm hand of a prince was slanted on her shoulder. Quiet sobs erupted into the scene. Uraraka's own shoulders were shaking as she tried to hold it in. Things shouldn't have happened this way. It was too crude to believe. But the reality she was witnessing was crisp and harsh, a pill hard to swallow.

"Thank you… for everything."

Jack could see the sun peek from a hole in the ceiling, blinding her temporarily, but the girl welcomed the light into her heart with a gentle, soft smile, closing her eyes as she let the heavens take her. A gentle breeze swept under her hair, like the cradle of a loving mother, and soon enough, she could feel a purifying sense of tranquility rain on her bloody corpse. The chirping birds, the flow of the river, the cicadas announcing the beginning of a summer.

She felt her body being lowered to the ground as the ground beneath her hands with a final warning. The faint sound of steps fading away in the distance left her mind, and she heard her real name being whispered one last time by a boy she used to love.

 _Kyouka_.

Just like that, she would be reborn from the flames again.

Behind the marching guild, the building was crumbling to the pit of hell under the surface. In the end, the great dark empire had been swallowed whole by its own machinery. Monsters, humans and rubble would be consumed all together by the fire that had started everything. The walls were falling down in the distance, the body of a dear colleague resting amidst the chaos with a curled hand on her stomach, a small smile in her face.

Soon enough, that floor crumbled as well and disappeared. Uraraka looked back. There was nothing left from the structure anymore. The only proof of the guild's existence would be the fire that would thrive for days before disappearing, and the memories each member had imprinted in the minds of children, towns, and families.

Uraraka had stopped walking to admire the beautiful fires as they cracked away from her. Her teary eyes watched the spectacle. A hand was slanted on her shoulder, and a torn leader tugged her forward. "We gotta go."

Her expression ended up giving in to her turmoil, and contorted into one of pain. She wiped away her tears like a child. "It's not fair!" she bellowed as Bakugou led her away. Some people were also being dragged away from the scene. Staying to contemplate it and grieve was too tempting. Uraraka shook under Bakugou's shaking grip. "It's… it's not fair!"

The Jirou clan ceased its existence that day. However, everyone was sure Kyouka's spirit would find rest in the arms of a benevolent god that would see in her sacrifice a child that had done no harm. The world would be purified from this illness, and the cycle of terror would finally stop.

There was a distant explosion. Ashes were blowing in the wind and reaching the feet of the remorseful heroes, who walked away with their heads bowed down and a fist clenched to their heart in Kyouka's memory.

Uraraka remembered a few last words.

"As they say…" the fire grew behind them, cracked, threw embers of a great empire their way. " _let the fire purify the world_."

* * *

Rain was falling down when Uraraka woke up. Her eyes fluttered open and stared at the beige ceiling of her tent, where the pitter-patter of the rainfall cluttered her ears and consumed her soul. Her eyes were still reddened from crying earlier before slumber, and her throat felt dry like sandpaper.

She placed a hand on her damp forehead and sat up slowly, sighing out as she did. Her eyes were closed as she went over the last events that had taken place. Jack− _Kyouka_ was dead, and so was Midnight and her guild of misery. They had put an end to a major criminal ring and in the days to come, the results for their battles would blossom: Gunhead would probably give up his position and the remaining clan members would disperse.

The results of their harvest would soon be there. She didn't know if she would be around to see them, though. The death of Kyouka in such unfair terms was gnawing at her like a bird pecking at a rotting corpse. Her eyes flickered to a side. The other side of her makeshift bed was empty, as Midoriya was probably at Asui's tent helping her cope with the loss of a great friend.

In the end, everyone was mourning in their own way. Some coped with it alone like Uraraka was. Others, they preferred the warmth of others' company and grieving together. The former option was the most likely outcome for her.

However, that prospect would change soon. Uraraka heard footsteps on the mud, boots against the wet soil, and a calloused hand she knew very well sneaked between the folds of the tent and pushed them away, revealing a familiar blistering gaze.

"Yo." he greeted, looking at her carefully, gauging if he should come in or not. Her eyes met his meekly. "Can I come in?"

Uraraka nodded lightly, hands folded on her lap as her lidded eyes looked at him from under her bangs. She could never deny him. Why would she start doing that now?

Bakugou nodded back and, sagging slightly so his head didn't hit the ceiling, he padded to crouch next to her. Her eyes were glued to her hands, and even while feeling his wine eyes on her, she didn't even flinch. He was used to her reacting to his very proximity, but she was completely silent and distant now.

Uraraka's mind was somewhere he couldn't reach, and if there was something he hated, was her going somewhere he couldn't follow.

"Hey." her eyes flickered into this realm again, coming back to Earth. Her head whipped around to see him sitting next to her, an arm on his knee as his eyes pried on hers. She couldn't help but feel slightly flustered at his proximity. She was feeling so out of it tonight. "You should be sleeping."

Her hand rose to caress his cheekbone with her knuckles. Dark rings rooted under his eyes, which seemed to shine in the darkness as her touch made his shoulders drop in relaxation. His cheeks were marred with small cuts and his skin was calloused under the touch. His breathing was slightly ragged, his eyes were droopy with exhaustion. Bakugou should be sleeping.

But there he was. With her. Crashing by her side. It was so worrisome to see him like this, so unusually _vulnerable_ with a gaze that screamed for help. Her touch seemed to make him melt, just as his presence made her heart retaliate.

"And so should you." whispered she tenderly, and he didn't have the heart to disagree. He leaned into her touch, eyes closed now. He was nuzzling her like a scared kitty, fangs hidden. "You look tired.""

Bakugou let out a small hum of protest, but didn't pull away from her. The rain that fell outside were all they could hear, shielded by the thin tent that kept them warm. However, Uraraka could feel her heart pumping loudly at his soft approach, and she for a second feared he would hear her heart throbbing for him.

It was too intimate to be real.

"You look as if a tree had fallen on you." he declared. One of his hands rose, his eyes were focused on a patch of blistered skin on her jaw that he caressed almost fearfully. "The hell did you do down there?"

He was referring to the events down at the factory. Uraraka sighed into his touch. Bakugou was being careful to not apply too much pressure into her red skin. Her face in general had some patched up cuts and her lips were overly dry, she could tell. She probably even had some caked mud on her hair after the showdown with Midnight.

The jazz of her staccato heartbeat serenaded her into a momentary lapse of silence and calmness. "Stuff. You know I don't go easy on anybody that tries to bite me."

His voice was hoarse. "I know." he scooted a bit closer to her, then his nose brushed with her temple, eyes closed, and Uraraka gulped as she remembered the talk she had had with Bakugou before the events at the Jirou lair.

They would never be together.

Or, at least, he didn't know how. He didn't know if after the fact or during the fact anything would work. If Bakugou didn't know anything, definitely nor did she. But Uraraka didn't want to ruin the moment. Didn't want to let him know the truth was slowly killing her now that they were facing a crossroad. The playtimes were over for them.

But he didn't need to know it was destroying her. She leaned into his touch as well, needing that simple comfort. Her hand climbed up to his arm, it sneaked and tapped its way up until she had hold on his sinewy bicep. Her eyes were half lidded, cristaline with pure feelings, and their foreheads were brushing.

"You're so warm." she breathed out, taking in his musky scent that dragged some rain with it. Drops of water fell down his bangs to her nose and her cheeks as he stared down at her, listening and not moving. "It's cold outside."

His fingers were still tracing her jaw and cheek, his eyes never leaving her as he memorized each and every angle of her round face. His eyes were closing of their own accord. "Do you want me to warm you up?"

His hand was now cupping her cheek gently to bring her face up a little. Her fingers curled deeper into his bicep, biting her lip at the implication and knowing it was not a good idea. Her head was slightly cocked to a side, noses brushing, eyes twinkling, and her pupils drifted to his undeniably irresistible lips.

Her eyes fluttered close, voice reduced to a mere whisper. "You… should be sleeping."

His voice, too, was hushed, fearing he'd scare her away for good if he spoke too loud. "I gotta make sure you sleep well I guess." his other hand cupped her neck, fingertips grazing the ends of her hair. "I'm still your leader."

Her lips curled into a small smile. "Are you? You're not treating me like the iron-fisted leader I know would." she was teasing, knowing it would only rile him up quicker, and that's what she wanted. Her lips were a hair away from his, speaking in an unhearable mumble.

At her blunt statement, his daze was momentarily broken. He shook his head with a tiny smirk of his own, cupping her face a bit more roughly. "You're fucking impossible."

Their lips met then, soft and candid, just as natural as breathing but just as blistering and warm like the direct hit from a beaming sun. Her cheeks were splashed with a bright shade of red, one hand on his shoulder and another tangled into his golden tresses, stroking his hair as their lips met, parted, and inevitably met again like chains being let loose, then yanked at again.

Uraraka would pull him away for safety soon but… she needed this, too.

He wouldn't let her take a breather. If she dared pull away, he'd chase her back like a thirsty vagabond. If he dared stagger a bit, she'd pick up the pace. She pulled away for two seconds to pant out, just for him to swallow her pleas in a rush of pecks and not so innocent kisses that were leaving her lightheaded and trembling in his hands. Bakugou was taking good care of her, just as he promised.

She lacked the self-control to stop him before his kisses convinced her to stay, and as his fingers winded into her hair for more control, she let out a squeak that made him growl out in protest. She was becoming increasingly aware that he was making sure she couldn not get away, his hands were everywhere, imprinting the shape of her body in his memory for years to go.

For all the fierce, cool leadership he displayed, he was coming across as desperate and feral right now, like a lion caging his prey between his body and the ground. His hand tilted her head to a side to deepen the kiss and access her lips better, a foul tongue coming out to give her plump lips a sensual lick that left Uraraka shivering on the spot.

This couldn't end well. But for now, in the darkness of their tent, she couldn't bring herself to care. A whiny moan left her when he tugged at her hair, bit on her lip, and slid his tongue into her wet mouth to lick at the ceiling of her cavern. With so much attention from an almost divine man, she didn't know why she was exactly shaking− was it his touch? was it how he growled everytime she whimpered? was it how he marked her as _his_?

All she knew was that Bakugou knew very well she was vulnerable, and he would sure take advantage of that.

His tongue was tightly curled around hers, making love to one another as he dipped her down slowly until she was lying down on the makeshift mattress, her head between his elbows and body covered by his cape as it showered over his back. He sunk his kiss deeper against her, making her body arch in a plea for more, just _more_. He was getting her close to the point she was losing the will to pull him away, but only wanting him closer and for herself.

Her lithe fingers curled into his wild hair, moaning lightly when he bit on her rosy petal. He was letting out predatory noises of possession, of want, of desire, and it was making her head swim out of this world and into another universe where this they were doing was right. She should really push him off from her now that she could, but how even could she?

Bakugou let out a string of curses into their kiss as she brought him further down, their kiss getting wetter and messier as a familiar warmth coiled in the depths of her belly, making her squeeze her thighs subtly to null out the feeling. A hand snuck out of the lair of his hair to slide down his hard body, feeling his skin, tattered with scars, and the shape of his pectorals that rippled under her delicate but hungry touch.

At this, he pulled away, panting. A string of saliva connected their parted lips, eyes locked with each other. Her chocolate eyes melted into his just like butter in a fire. He looked just as unkempt as she did, and it brought a sense of relief crashing over her. "God, Uraraka…" he let out her name like a plea, one so hoarse and just _lustful_ it made her feel even more aroused.

Her eyes focused on the dark spots of his cape. "Your cape is… wet." she tempted, curling a bit of the fabric with her fingers. "You should take it off…"

It took him a second to catch up, and when he did, he gave her a wolfish smirk. "You can take it off yourself. You're fucking drooling, _fairy_." he taunted her with that nickname, making her gasp lightly, and her eyes widened at the word.

Still, she complied. Her hands reached for the straps that went over his shoulders and started tugging them off, fingertips tracing the very ripe skin of his muscles as she went. The thought of those arms embracing her for all eternity haunted her mind and made her only more aware of how much she wanted to stay, of how much she wanted him.

The cape was off his body quickly, but instead of throwing it away, he pushed her body up with one of his arms to put it under her, and attached the straps to her own arms. The damp fur tickled her cheeks, the garment felt overly big on her small body, but the way he was looking at her right now made her heart beat to the rhythm of an unsteady constanza.

Uraraka was sure her heart would leap out of her body and run away. Instead, it remained within her chest, throbbing as his crimson gaze bled into her soul and made her feel so small, yet so cherished at the same time. The back of his hand caressed her cheek, his body looming over hers supported on an elbow, and she nuzzled against his fingers drowsily.

"You're so fucking small…" it sounded like a complaint, but it wasn't. It was more along the lines of a disbelieving man who couldn't imagine such a small creature could hold the salvation to this very wrecked world he held in a fragile grasp, the world in his palms and then, now under him, _her_. "I… shit."

The sorcerer had no words, either. Her hands were holding on to his strong shoulders, which she curled her fingers around as she stroked his skin. Uraraka wanted to memorize every curve of his body, too.

Her eyes blinked to his, meeting his gaze. She wanted to remember the fire behind his eyes, as well. She wanted his lips all over her body, marking her where eyes wouldn't reach so she would remember him wherever she went. It would only take one word and a kiss from him for her to bow down to every of his wishes.

But Bakugou would never do that to her. Uraraka wanted to convince herself that she wasn't sad about it, but recalling how there was no future for them after this night was over, she knew it was better this way.

"Please…" she breathed out, eyes falling half lidded and her head turned somewhat, biting her lip. "Kiss me again."

That was all it took for him to bow down to her, instead. Bakugou let out another set of choice curses as he leaned down, making her giggle. His hands were in her hair again, her fingers gently cupped his sharp cheeks, breathed in quickly, and let him claim her lips once more. His body was pressed against hers in a very unspoken need for contact, and she was not complaining. She would never complain about him touching her.

This time, all delicacy was thrown away by impatience. He shoved his tongue against hers and stroked it carefully. "Ngh…" she groaned out, her body already reacting without her consent to every of his touches. One of the hands on her neck cupped her hip, just as one of hers ran down his front to graze the skin of his abs.

 _That_ made the leader let out a loud " _Fuck_." against her, and he only interrupted their heated make-out to speak an inch away from her glossy, nipped lips. His hand right _there_ was making a spark of sensuality spiral within her at the possessive grip he had on her. "You don't know what you're getting into, Uraraka…"

Her eyes instantly met his, just as brave as ever.

"Do I…?" insisted she, a small smirk forming along her bruised lips. Her body was stretched out underneath his own, tempting him to play her like a musician would play their favorite instrument.

Bakugou hummed in agreement, eyes descending down her shape and then to her shut legs under her slightly hiked up dress, giving light to patches of skin he had never seen. Uraraka brought a nail to her teeth, looking at him coyly in a way she knew he would love − and hell he did, his smirk right there was priceless.

A lighting bolt and a clap of thunder illuminated the scene one last time. "Then bite me, _Katsuki_."

* * *

It was dark outside. The clouds were an obstacle to the pure shine of the moonlight, that tried to break through the foggy atmosphere that permeated the river. Ochako hugged her gray cloak closer to her chin, and whipped her eyes to the grand moon above her. It stared at her through the dense clouds, peeking in suspicion and observing her very step.

Ochako took a deep breath, a step back, and leaped over the river, aided by her quirk. The imperial badge latched to the lapel of the garment gleamed in the night, red and blue with golden details over it. Hand splayed, she landed on the soft grass in silence, graceful as a dove.

The moment she was to take a step forward though, she saw a shadow standing in her way, unmoving. Scared of this individual's identity, Ochako hesitated to walk, but ended up doing so as she remembered the peculiar shape of that long, jet black hair. Her heart hardened its resolve, her mind sticked to her prior decision, and with balled fists, she marched forward.

She stopped right by Aizawa's side when he spoke up.

"Do you know what you are about to do?" asked he, voice gravelly with caution. "Are you aware of what you are about to unleash if you go any further?"

The distant clap of thunder echoed in the distance and made her ears twitch. "You were the one who insinuated all behind this. Don't try to act all innocent now."

"You don't know what you are playing with." he said, unaffected by her words. Ochako seemed just as unimpressed with his words as him, and only dedicated him a sideways glance. "I can see it in your eyes. You are angry. Angry at the people in this world, angry at this world itself." Ochako remained silent. As the saying went, who says nothing agrees. "If it were in your hands, you would not only murder most people that raised you up, you'd also destroy the very land under our feet.

A drop of rain hit her button nose, but she was unaware of the subtle drizzle. Aizawa didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"I'm unsure of what you will achieve with this, other than making your friends sad and miserable. You just want to trigger them into… a messy conflict, and then blow the candles off as if nothing had happened. As if you could go on with your life after that without a punishment."

Her eyes turned to his, skeptical. "Can I not? It seems like you can get away with your sins easily here." then, her melancholic eyes looked into the several cuts that marred her slender hand. Her eyebrows creased a little, then curled her fingers into fists once more, refusing to back down despite the risks. "Are you trying to warn me? If you hadn't spilled the beans, this would have never happened."

"It's my duty to bring the truth up, even if it hurts." spoke the man. His mouth was muffled under his scarf, hands shoved into his pockets. "No need to be so resentful over it. What's the matter? Do you wanna blame somebody for the sins you are about to commit?"

Ochako's head dipped forward, and she was decided to take a step forward and away from him. "Not at all. All of them deserve to meet the price of their sins. I refuse to back down ever again, even if it's against my foster parents."

She was about to walk away from him when his voice struck her like the distant lighting above her.

"You are doing things in the wrong order."

He sounded somewhat condoning, so she stopped in her tracks with wide eyes and waited for him to continue. Words of defeat danced out of his lips, almost regretfully, but knowing this man he probably wasn't that decided to stop her to begin with. He _had_ started this, after all.

"You are being weak. Deep inside, you are still a brat." that made her body tremble at the harsh words, but Ochako bit her to not spat right back at him. "You just want to wipe all the impurities away without facing the people that still support you. Your love for them overpowers your cause, and that's why you don't wanna face them, huh?"

Could she even deny that? The mage gulped a thick mass of sudden guilt, and let him continue.

AIzawa had craned his head around to look at her, and then turned it back so he was looking at his feet in wonder. "You are being a coward. A weak big monster with the fangs of a wolf. If your cause was that important, you would have done this right after the mission was over, and not hidden like a wolf with their tail between their legs."

Ochako whipped her whole body around to scream a few choice curses at him before Aizawa rose a hand to make her shut up and pay attention. Mild and vulnerable, cold to the bone, Ochako complied.

However, when he spoke again, his voice was a hundred times louder and it resonated deep within her soul. It didn't seem like he was talking to her. Ochako didn't feel like she was herself anymore, as if time had been abruptly cut in and Aizawa was speaking to somebody else through Ochako's body.

Years, timelines and a hundred tears away, somebody shifted in her sleep, shuddering.

"Are you just gonna stand by and do nothing? Are you going to let your friends be hurt by a danger that will end up catching them? What are you waiting for?" the voice buzzed into her ears and cut clean through her fickle soul. "Will you let the world reach your friends and destroy them? Or will you actually do something about it?"

"What are you talking about?" she said, feeling disoriented, confused. "I don't get it!"

"This world is full of lies and misfortune. Not only for you, but also for them." spoke Aizawa in a softer tone. "If you don't put an end to it, perhaps nobody ever will. There is a greater enemy out there that only you can defeat now."

Ochako understood that, and she nodded. Her serious stance came back after those minutes of limbo, and her hands curled into fists once more, decided to now run away. However, she had one last question. "Who are you and… what are you doing here?

Aizawa had a simple answer to that.

"I already told you. I'm here to tell you the truth." he said, simply. "The rest is irrelevant. You'll understand someday."

Ochako, in her hurry, didn't realize this was important symbolic information. She just nodded and let her boots take her down the familiar path of her family's cottage, mud caking her legs as she sped through the rain. It was sad that her comeback would be devoted to a dirty mission like this, and it made her expression turn sour at the nostalgia she felt, dashing through the streets she had owned when she was a child.

She tried to rob herself off the sadness by grabbing the dagger on her thigh and bringing it to her hand, clutching it firmly.

There was a grunt in the heavy rain, then a splash of water and somebody climbing up a house.

At the tick of midnight, a body dangled from the ceiling, blood dripping down the corpse and into a thickening pool of blood.

Under the rotting body, the shiny pin had been thrown as a sign of who had done this. When the family came into the room, a piercing scream bounced on Ochako's ears as she ran away with tears of remorse, but knowing who this man had been, how her real parents had been robbed of a happy ending… she kept on running until the screams of what once upon a time was a family left her mind.

The morning after, war broke out.

* * *

When Uraraka came to, she abruptly rose from under the blankets, fingers digging into the fabric as she shook and panted in and out quickly. This dream had been vivid, distant but yet so tangible, and it made her realize this dream had been closer to her than any before. The sorcerer could still remember the words Aizawa had said as if they had been spoken to her directly in her ear.

What was that man doing there? Was it just a figment of her imagination pushing his persona there? She didn't know, but there was one thing she _was_ aware of.

He was right.

He had been right about everything he said all along, and it made her shiver and realize that maybe, just maybe, the time had come for her to flee.

Just as she was about to leave, a hand on her abdomen fell on her thigh. She turned her eyes to see a peacefully sleeping Bakugou by her side, eyes closed in bliss and finally looking content, for a change. She combed his hair back softly, and he groaned in response as he leaned into her touch.

 _"I… don't know any solution to this. You'll be gone after this, I know, and… it's impossible to predict what will happen after that."_

Her touch visibly recoiled from his smooth skin upon remembering his words, and her expression turned sour like that of a grieving widow, gulping down a victory they would never reach. They would be forever tangled with the other, dancing around the goal but never getting there, because he knew it wouldn't work between them.

He was a guild leader. She was a sorcerer, destined to save the world, destined to save her friends. What else could she have done other than hope? Her chocolate eyes were filled with unshed tears, and she fought to keep them at bay. The man beside her looked at peace, as if all the demons inside of him had been defeated.

Hesitant, a trembling finger caressed his cheek, eyes on the tattoos of his shoulder and remembering how terrified she had been the day they met, when things were simpler. Right now, she was terrified of saying goodbye. Uraraka traced the shape of his jaw, eyes distant, gaze tender, but heart resolved to do what she had been created for.

"I'm so sorry, Bakugou." she whispered, voice shaking, vulnerable, as if her heart was about to shatter asunder. "It's… too unfair. I won't let you be caught and suffer, not you, not any of you." she repeated, recalling what her master had told her to do. She had to go and find him.

It was time for the water to return to the ocean, and for Uraraka to face him once and for all, face him for all his crimes. As Bakugou had said, the creator of RampAge had been the one to cause the temporal disruptions. Her last resort now would be to face the creator of that monster.

She had to go against her master one last time. But she wouldn't let her dear guild get involved in any of this. As she was fated to, she would leave quietly into the night and not come back until the world was a safe, until everyone could get a happy ending. She wouldn't let anybody hurt her friends anymore, even if it meant taking Aizawa down with her.

A part of her knew things weren't that easy though. She knew that there was something behind all of this, and that she would soon discover what it was as it had been told to her, all this time. The pieces were finally in line for Uraraka to follow. All she had to do now was follow the path to the end of the line.

Uraraka leaned down and pressed a last short kiss on his chapped lips. Her mouth lingered over his for a bit longer, hovering above him as he stayed unmoving, unaware of the conundrum that rattled around in her mind. Her mouth curled down in a grimace of pain before moving off from him and getting up. Her eyes never left his as he slept, now curling towards her side as his body reacted to the loss of warmth.

It was now when Uraraka realized she had his fluffy cape tucked around her small frame. With a smile, she removed the straps from her shoulders and put the velvety cape over him, covering his body until the fur grazed his nose, which twitched at the soft contact. After that, she forced herself off from him, not allowing herself enough time to go back and think twice.

Uraraka grabbed her cloak and turned to the exit. She had one foot out of the tent, but then, she stopped.

"One last time." she mumbled, and turned back to see Bakugou stir a bit in his slumber. The fickle life of a candle lit the bed where they had been making out earlier. His body had traces of her nail's abuse, and he had a few reddened patches of skin down his neck, just as her body was littered with marks and bites she'd take with her to the battlefield.

She swallowed another gulp, mouthing an apology one last time and relished on the memory of him asleep by her side, the warmth of his body and his peaceful, handsome face to her heart. Uraraka would never forget about him, no matter where she went. The sorcerer would take his memory, his voice and his kisses with her wherever she went. No matter how far this adventure took her, Uraraka would always love him unconditionally.

One last glimpse of him, and Uraraka breezed past the folds of the tent and into the night.

Her body met a cold smack from the aftermath of the storm, and she looked into the darkness of the forest. The flames of the bonfire were extinguished and everybody was sleeping. She looked up at the sky, bringing her hat up past her eyesight. The stars were twinkling, all clouds gone with the rain, but a dim orange light could be seen in the faraway horizon.

She had to hurry before dawn rolled by, before her friends woke up and found out she was missing. Uraraka had to disappear before they could chase her back to their side Scheming, Urara started by trying to locate herself and Aizawa's lair, trying to find a sense of direction. However, Uraraka heard the low rustle of steps coming her way.

The perfect timing made her narrow the identity of this mysterious figure to one sole individual. His presence alone confirmed her worst fears: the time for her to go had come, indeed.

Shinsou stepped out of the shadows, hand on the back of his neck. His eyes surveilled her, and he was surprised to find no shock in her eyes. In the silence and darkness of the night, he looked like another of the demons plaguing her mind. Perhaps, he actually was one. "Glad to see you're still alive, fairy. We gotta go, now."

The urgency in his voice did take her aback. "Why hurry? What the hell happened?"

"Things are getting bad around the region. I've only seen tidbits of it, but I came back to our village and it was full to the brim with time corruptions, it was a fucking mess." this made Uraraka gasp in terror, eyes widening as a shadow settled on her trembling heart. "My guild wasn't there when I arrived, and your headquarters were a fucking mess. Pray for your little engineer to be okay if you sent her back home, because the village was empty when I looked around it."

Her voice broke a crack. "You're saying… that the timeline is already collapsing?"

Were they already running out of time?

"The edges are breaking. It's very likely that the disruptions are moving inwards in a circular motion, and they are advancing in Aizawa's direction." he spoke his name so bluntly as if it burnt him. Uraraka had a similar opinion about the man. "We gotta get there before it's too late. We might be able to save this place if we hurry. I'll tell you the rest on our way there."

Uraraka nodded in agreement and out of nowhere came his hand to tug her away from the camp. The girl looked back at it, tried to yank at Shinsou's arm so he would stop, which he did. Her eyes looked at the silent set of tents, remorseful for leaving without saying goodbye. Her eyes shed no tears, for she knew this was the right decision, no matter how it went down in the end.

Even if she died in the battlefield, if she was lost in the heat of salvation for her friends, for her lover, it'd be worth all this pain.

Everything was happening in a blur, too fast for her weak mind to understand. However, the only thing Uraraka knew to be real was the need to leave. Her time to act and conquer the enemy had come.

"Let's get going, fairy." his serious, dead tone made her falter her stance, and he took the opportunity to make her move to his wishes. Soon enough, he was taking her far away from the camp and into the dark forest, scampering between the trees. "The time has come for us to go."

Uraraka gulped. Her surroundings were fading into black as they were chased by sunlight streaming through the trees, awakening a sense of crippling danger within her heart. They were stepping further away from the tranquility of ignorance and closer to the depth of this swirling madness.

"Yeah." she conceded, stepping into a clearing washed by early bitter sunlight where a horse was resting and the only noise heard was the bubbling rattling in the silence. "Let's go."

A few minutes later, they were galloping away from civilization. The steps of the hurrying animal distracted her mind from the danger that was dancing right at her fingertips, teasing her heart and serenading her into a state of anxiety. However, she tried to harden her resolve, and pushed down all feelings of inferiority in order to leap up and finally, after so much time, uncover what lay under the sheets of disgrace and corruption.

This was the last time Uraraka would ever see the moonlight.


	11. Notoriety

**[A/N]:** This chapter is going to end in an absurd, delicious and ironic cliffhanger I hope nobody is expecting. And in case explanations are needed, I will provide at the end of this chapter. But for now, this is the end of the story. This is the _true_ end of it, at least, and all i can say is you guys enjoy it. Also loving how collected I seem here whereas I'm freaking out on Tumblr hjdksla

* * *

The weather had turned from pleasant to relentless and unforgiving, like that of a norse catastrophe as a harsh blizzard hit their horses and the bodies of the heroes. Bakugou winced under the storm, trying to cover his body with the tattered cape and the torn cloak he had borrowed from Uraraka's baggage, the small bag she had left behind.

Bakugou's jaw clenched at the vivid memory of finding her bed empty. It had brought back that sickening punch to the gut from the first time– although now, he had actually tasted the bitter honey of her lips before being so unfairly robbed of it.

He had slept so close to her, like a child falling asleep under the blessing of the moonlight. He had never been that content before. When his eyes finally drifted close, it felt like things were momentarily right in the world. He had started to believe in happiness again, and he had fallen asleep with the want and will to make things right between them once the battle was over.

Hell, he'd even consider waiting for her, even if she came back in pieces or he had to wait forever for her to make her way back to him. Her way back to his arms, where he had just found out was the place where she belonged.

Apparently somebody didn't think that way. He wanted to believe she had been kidnapped, otherwise she wouldn't leave so suddenly, she wouldn't leave him hanging, right? They had whispered their eternal vows to each other under the dim fickle light of a candle. He would have never thought she'd leave after such meaningful moment.

Bakugou was fighting the storm, as if thinking chasing the faraway clearings on the sky would take him to his lover's side. The blizzard was chasing after them, he could feel the temperatures were dipping fast as they grew slower due to the blizzard. For some reason, it felt like the world was freezing behind them, and that if they stopped their stride, this incoming catastrophe would kill them all.

"Guys, we're getting close!" urged Bakugou, sensing how the storm was starting to lose power behind them. His frown turned into a grin, looking ahead as he saw a clearing. "There's a clearing ahead, we might find shelter!"

Kirishima's horse galloped close to Bakugou's as the hunter shed a worried grimace of pain. Before Bakugou could ask, he heard something falling down loudly at their side, but his friend's worries concerned him much more. Midoriya, who was riding on Kirishima's horse, did check on that very quickly while his peer voiced his concerns.

"If we stop to sleep, the storm might eat us alive!" pressed Kirishima, pointing at the wild biting temperature that seemed to be after them. Bakugou growled in response. "What the hell is with this fucking weather, though!?"

Todoroki's horse galloped close. Asui was latched to his back. His voice was barely audible through the wind of the blizzard. "This storm isn't natural! This storm is advancing too fast to be normal, it will end up beating us one way or another!"

Midoriya's eyes connected with Bakugou's momentarily before the leader tapped Kirishima's shaking shoulder. "He is right. We might have a chance to survive if we find shelter in the forest, but we won't do anything running away from it. It hasn't stopped in hours."

Bakugou didn't like agreeing with the green dipshit, but at times like these, they were leaders before one sided enemies. "This fucking hell ain't gonna let up soon, and we won't survive by being cowards!"

As he said these words, the storm seemingly let up from behind them, making the team sigh out in relief. However, before they could chant in victory, trees were falling down again by their right, and suddenly, they were falling by their left as well. Asui peeped a curious eye to her back before shrieking in terror, feeling a chill drop down her spine and drench her in cold sweat.

Spikes of ice were ramming through the forest and closing the path behind their backs, cutting trees, animals and all they found at their wake with slices in the wind. The pressure was rising in the air as the horses slowed down momentarily as Asui realized the storm wasn't chasing them, but closing in around the clearing they were about to reach.

Bakugou realized her concern and looked behind for a second. Just at the sight of the big spikes of ice his eyes widened in tenfold, letting a disgruntled noise of shock out before urging his horse to run for his life. "Go faster! We're reaching the clearing, that's our last damn chance!"

The horses, panting and trying not to slip on the increasingly icy surface, galloped as fast as the wind, feeling this danger increase its speed and gain terrain. It was eating the world and freezing it, and all Todoroki could think of it was its possible relation to the timeline distortions, but the blizzard was clouding his mind and tunneling his thoughts into the image of the possible shelter ahead of them.

The sound of glass and ice tearing through the surface alarmed Asui, and she glanced back to see the ice breaking and freezing the ground in the blur of colors they were speeding through. The clearing was just a minute away, they had to make it! "The ice is gaining speed, it must be reaching its destination!"

Todoroki's thoughts were reeled back into the timeline issue before his eyes widened a notch and he gritted his teeth, hitting the horse once so it'd run to Bakugou's pace. "We gotta make it there! It's the only safe place, we'll be fine there!"

Of course, Bakugou had to interject, feeling Todoroki was trying to play leader. "What the fuck do you mean, smartass!?"

"If the creator of RampAge is the creator of the timeline disruptions, he must be located at the core of it all– that's where the spikes are going!"

It was only when the brazen leader saw how the spikes were circling close to the clearing that he realized Todoroki was right. Gasping hoarsely as trees continued to be seared asunder all around them, Bakugou took out his sword from his back and held it to his side.

A short, almost imperceptible flash of light blinded Asui, who was the only one who saw it thanks to her magical abilities. Instantly after, a shudder ran down her spine, the world slowing down to a soft velocity that left her utterly _terrified_. The closer they grew to the clearing, the stronger dread drenched her body.

"I have a bad feeling about this!" yelled Asui. She felt a spike almost land a nasty hit on Todoroki's horse. "A weird vibe is rippling out of that clearing! We need to be careful!"

They were just a few meters away, it was their last sprint to the goal. Bakugou grinned, at the challenge, but it was a forced smile to encourage his peers. He knew they were in deep shit if things had come to this. They were at the end of the rope, and the only difference between a safe land and free falling was the speed of their horses.

Among the strong wind, the blizzard and blood pumping into his ears, Bakugou heard the ice spikes were aiming for a last sprint too, making him urge his horse even more to the point the poor animal was at the verge of slipping on the icy ground. His grin started fading away to be replaced with a scowl of concern.

"Last sprint, everyone! Hold on tight, we're almost there!"

Their stride became chaotic, grunts and screams of effort accompassing the shattering of ice. They were biting their way to the warriors, devouring the ground at a faster cadence before one spike graced Bakugou's neck, yet its end shattered as the warriors reached the clearing and an invisible magic barrier beamed, vibrated and protected them from the ice barrier.

The horses tripped, fell defeated, and the warriors rolled to the ground with grunts of pain and exhaustion on the puffy snow. The horses remained motionless.

The spike avalanche had been blocked by the invisible shield, and its advance had been overall halted. It was coming clear that the core of the forest was the only safe place– maybe not only in their region, but all around the world. As the blizzard remained inside the safe clearing, slowly turning into gentle, eerie snow, the climate grew grimmer and grimmer with death looming over the sky. The clearing was completely silent.

Bakugou refused to back down, and he was convinced that if they gave the bastard behind all of this a beating they'd stop this madness and everything would make sense once more. And more importantly (and selfishly as well) he'd probably find where Uraraka was. He refused to believe she hadn't seen this catastrophe coming and had ended up buried under all the snow and ice.

It… was maybe a bit too hard to digest that maybe he had lost her again. In fact, he had been holding himself from thinking about it until now that they were in a crucial point of their most problematic challenge. As he let the predicament soak, he felt a hand on his bulky shoulder.

Bakugou had failed to realize he was slightly trembling at the picture of a frozen, wide-eyed and _dead_ Uraraka, but Kirishima saw it crystal clear. While everyone got up from the snow, the hunter walked to his leader. "Everything will be fine, dude."

The snow fell slowly and silently around them, as if time was indeed slowing down to soon stop and never move again. Bakugou turned from his peers to face the big decrepit tower. It was only when he turned in that direction that he discovered the amplitude of a lake that extended all behind the tower, frozen solid and shimmering.

Bakugou wasn't one to appreciate art, but he was sure this place had once been beautiful.

The tower looked at the lake in its crumbling state. Part of the top floors were gone and now lay on the ground, vines sprouted from the thin windows that formed the spine of the high building. A twin structure had once been glued to this tower, yet it was mostly gone except some of the walls and the vines that had conquered the surface. As Bakugou took careful steps on the hill, he realized this was no clearing as he had previously thought.

The ice spikes had stopped all around the lake's ratio, where the core of the world truly resided. The lake was ice as far as the eyes could reach, and in the distance, he could make out the shape of more spikes and the trees that had been saved by this invisible barrier. Snow also fell as far as the eyes could reach.

Bakugou squinted a bit more, making his peers come to him as he stared off in silence. Midoriya stood at his side. "What's wrong?"

Bakugou's expression had turned into a scowl. "There's another big ass castle far away from here."

He was right. At the center of the lake, on a big rocky hill, stood a great big castle with spiky towers around the main building and a curvy path up, all littered with thin windows. Trees branched out to the sky, big and unaffected by the snow. The castle stood there, big and proud, in silence. The lake had frozen, but the castle had not.

In fact, the more time passed, the more Bakugou was intrigued about the castle. The little tower around them was in extreme decay and had withered as years had gone by. That fortress in the distance (way more stately than the Jirou lair) seemed unaffected. "Maybe…"

Midoriya wasn't as slow as Bakugou was being, and he was already planning a path to reach that hill. "That could be where that man is."

Yaoyorozu reached them soon after. "We could maybe walk the lake's width. It shouldn't be that hard to walk across." her eyes stared off into the distance, but Midoriya could tell her mind wasn't in the game.

Todoroki, having heard her soft words, walked closer and put a hand on her forearm. She nodded in response, knowing he was trying to support her. She had been crying by his side all night long, and his heart had never shattered that hard– tears running down her face, sobs tremoring through her body, and her tremoring never stopping until late past midnight.

He couldn't take seeing her this way. Maybe by taking down this phenomenal foe, she'd find peace and avenge her death. Todoroki just wanted her to be alright. "Did you have anything planned? You're probably already thinking of something, aren't you?"

Her eyes widened slightly. When the knight looked back at her male friend, a small twinkle had returned to her dull onyx eyes, and the confident smile also came back with it, her distress temporarily forgotten.

"We could simply walk by it or slide across the ice. It's probably more risky, but also a lot faster." the girl immediately yanked off a part of her armor, hissing at how the cold bit into her skin. "I can make a few makeshift sleds, and wing it with that. It's safer."

Bakugou seemed skeptical at this idea. "Fucking sleds? What is this, a snow holiday?"

Todoroki knew his friend wasn't in a spot to be opposed to, so he stepped between her and his leader. "Do you have any better ideas, Bakugou?"

Todoroki's tone was fierce like that of a lion and it actually made Bakugou take an unusual step back as if he was a sheep under his glare. In reality, the blond had no better ideas to counter this one with, and to be frank, it wasn't like they had all time in the world, and it wasn't _that_ dumb, really.

It just felt absurd they'd end up crossing this hell of a big lake with some sort of child entertainment toys. In fact, just as he witnessed Yaoyorozu bend down to start creating them, he realized that the designs would end up being absurd.

His eyes caught a small glint in the distance and he was pulled away from that concern. It had probably just been a leaf catching fortunate small sunlight, the very few streaks that could come through the thick clouds, but it made the leader look forward to the fortress again.

Thinking of who could be there, so far away from his reach, fighting for her life and for the whole world's probably, made an unfamiliar shudder run down his spine.

He was certain he had never felt this empty, anxious and ricketing sensation before, and it made him wonder how smitten he had to be with that brat to worry so much over her.

Sensing his turmoil from metres afar, a familiar redhead walked the distance to meet him. Bakugou sensed him coming.

"Don't." he growled before the hunter could put his hand on his shoulder, like he always did. "I'm fucking fine. I don't need cheap comfort."

Kirishima, far from taking offense, laughed it off. "Huh, you sure devalue my comfort, leader dearest." the sarcasm didn't go unnoticed, and Bakugou glared at him. He was too tense to be joked with.

In fact, his fangs showed in a small threat, as if telling his friend to stop joking or he'd positively rip his head off. "Go to hell, Kirishima. I have no time to your chipper-ass jokes."

At his unyielding bitterness, Kirishima hopped on a rock that looked out at the lake. Judging by his intent in staring off at the fortress just as Bakugou was doing, he was either trying to or in the process of understanding what was going through Bakugou's head.

The redhead looked back at him, and somehow noticed something pink and soft was missing. It felt weird to now miss her by his side when they had hated each other for the longest time, but even now it was off-putting to see the leader so… _alone_. Maybe her presence brought life to his stance better than anything else, and now, all that was left of him was just the carcass of a leader.

Kirishima then stared off again into the distance. The gentle noise of the wood falling on the snow made the scene more lively than it actually was. In a world now overtaken by death, how could anything be happy now? How could a man who vowed to adore the hero of this world be happy when she was debating between death and life?

Unbeknownst to him, things were more complicated than that.

"Do you think she's there?"

Bakugou took little to answer. "I doubt she'd let herself be caught in that hell of a storm, or whatever that was." the blond, unsure of what else to say, looked around him. The spikes had finally ended their advance, and it seemed the invisible barrier would keep them safe in this haven.

She had to be there.

She just _had_ to.

"Uraraka is a tough cookie. Though I wish she had said goodbye to us before leaving so badly." his giddy and encouraging expression seemed to sink at the memory of her being gone, and Bakugou took notice of this. "It kinda bums me."

See? This was why he sometimes hated that damn airhead, because she never noticed the effect she had on others. She never realized that her being gone actually made others sad, she never stopped and saw the tears she left behind. Instead, Bakugou had watched all of his peers shed tears for her, but unlike them, the leader had shed them in silence, kneeling by her bed and weeping as her silence only soaked him further.

It had been hell on earth, but she just went on with her life, skipping lives like a kid skipped stones on a lake. On a lake that could be this very same one, for that matter.

He wanted to call her selfish.

But he didn't find the heart to.

Bakugou's only response to this was a growl. "Just let it fucking be. We're getting her back. I know that woman like the back of my hand." his face sunk to a fierce scowl. "That woman… she ain't fragile. And she will survive this, don't even doubt her."

Usually, Bakugou's unwavering faith in her would lift his hopes. This time was different. The setting didn't let many hopes wiggle into the scene, and it didn't feel like there was any other way back from this mess. To Kirishima, humankind had failed to stop that timetravelling man in time, and even if they had, the current pessimism that clung to the air told him one thing, as if the gods were whispering them to him.

Humankind only repeats their mistakes.

Kirishima's voice cut through unexpectedly. "I can only hope she is."

That tiny phrase, put out so weakly, as if hanging desperately to a thread of hope put a dent in Bakugou's expectations. Before he could ask, Yaoyorozu slapped her hands to get rid of some nasty blisters. "The work's done!"

Bakugou and Kirishima (who had just stood up) looked back to see the sleds fall on the snow that was piling up on the ground. The sleds were simple, as expected considering their lack of time, but sturdy and tough. Somehow, the structures were very smoothly polished and Bakugou had no clue how she did that.

It was amazing to watch and he sometimes forgot his peers were actually very capable.

The red haired hunter scampered to his friends' side, purely awed by the creation, like the very impressionable kid he deep down was. It was entertaining to witness the man kneeling down and fuss over the object. "Woah! It looks so pretty! But… how many of us fit in one?"

That was an interesting question. The sleds were tough and sturdy, but rather small. There were a few of them scattered across the space they occupied, but Bakugou doubted they were even close to the amount they needed to cross the lake in due time.

In hindsight, Iida could cross the lake on his own despite his injuries from the day before. Asui could easily move around with her abilities and skate other lighter members across the ice pond. Bakugou and the rest would definitely need sleds, above all for people who were known for having two left feet. Namedly, Kaminari.

The blonde knew this so well he actually grabbed Kirishima and one of the sleds to push both down on the wooden transportation. Everyone saw this initiative and without wasting time, got in their sleds silently, some bickering for space and exploding some bits of the sled. Namedly, Bakugou with Midoriya on his back, who wouldn't stop fidgeting.

"Bakugou, sit a bit more forward, you're crushing me!"

He was too anxious to really care– anxious to meet the end of this journey, anxious to defeat that motherfucker who had taken the life of his parents and many more, anxious to take down the bastard who had dared take his lover away. If he could call her that, at least.

Thinking of her made a surge of energy bloom within him that drove him to take out his cursed sword and draw it to the skies of this corrupted world in defiance, looking forward at the castle, a soon-to-be deathbed for many. "We're going to take down that bastard, guys! Get your weapons out, war is about to break!"

The sleds slid into the lake pond and began to gain speed very fast. So much so, the gentle snow that danced in the air felt like ravid rain on their skin. The gray, grim and cold world that this planet had become passed by in blurs of death and silence. The only thing that echoed in that dead clearing was the sleek sliding of the warriors and the perduring whisper of danger.

The fortress was getting close, and so was the dread clutching Bakugou's heart. He also noticed that, as the sleds began to slow down, the snow never let up. Within this changing weather, they should have seen it coming, but two minutes prior to their arrival, a harsh snow storm broke free and menaced to knock them off the beaten track.

However, Asui used her expert water magic knowledge to make vaporize most of the snow to the point steam was surrounding them, her hand raised in the air. "What a handful. This is anything but a discreet welcoming."

Before anyone could ask, Midoriya responded to their doubts as his sled touched land. "They– or him, whoever is in there, knows we are coming. Or at least they will be ready for people to enter their fortress."

"But… it seems like this region is done with." Todoroki wanted to dare say that _the whole world_ was done with, yet he didn't want to sink his friends' morale. "How would they be expecting us when not even _we_ should be alive?"

Bakugou looked back, as he had hopped on land before anybody else. His eyes met Midoriya's, and for once, the blonde understood.

"Things might be a bit more complicated than who they caught in their net. Something tells me nothing about this was unintentional. Something fishy is happening and I can't put my damn finger on it." growled the blond, his boots hissing against the dry, loose and sandy ground. The air was cold and smelt like metal, or gunpowder, he couldn't tell. Nothing about this place was normal, and nor was the fact that they were the only ones left alive, it seemed.

The blond decided not to dwell too much into it, and whipped his cape back to march up the sinuous hill. "Let's just keep on going. We'll explain on our way up."

* * *

Cobblestone had never felt so cold, Uraraka decided. She wasn't sure if this was a result of the intimidation clawing at her heart, or if it was a result of the foul weather that was unraveling outside. Her heart was buried under an overwhelming load of pressure that made every single source of feeling outside completely useless. Her tunnel focus was getting worse, she knew, and it would be a while until she got her mind sorted out again.

 _If ever_ , she added, mindful of the pair of eyes that observed every of her movements a few steps behind. Uraraka was being followed through the hallways like a lion followed a lost deer, and the extra unnecessary pressure made her sigh and look back to her workmate.

"Shinsou, I don't need to be babysat. I have lived here just as you have, I know my way around this place."

But they continued walking– or more like, he continued pushing her forward with his presence only.

"My old man told me to take you there. I got no clue what he wants from you, but I think the time has come to sort things out." she didn't need to be told that again. Uraraka was completely sure of what she was there for, but Shinsou had this awful habit of repeating himself over and over.

Uraraka walked tensely, her eyes trying to look behind her without moving her head. With another sigh, the pair just happened to walk by a big window when they heard a loud crash coming from afar. Her tunnel vision branched out to focus on this event, and she witnessed a whole barricade of spikes shattering against an invisible divide that shone like an aurora upon being hit.

The sorcerer's eyebrow sunk. "What… is that?"

Shinsou didn't seem surprised by this, but stopped and stared just as she did, watching the spike barrier fight against the limits of this safe den. "Looks like the planet's been overtaken already. We were hoping we would have a bit more time before this happened, so we gotta hurry."

Then… it was true? She could recall Bakugou's warnings on how the creator of RampAge had to be the one behind the timeline issue too, but until this very moment, she had always had doubts, or at least a minimal amount of skepticism. Seeing how events were unfolding, it only made sense to believe his words.

But if that spike barrier had swallowed the world, then it meant her comrades were most possible dead, too. As Shinsou pried her away from the window, her eyes started burning and soon enough, small tears littered the surface of her orbs, those molten caramel skies that was fighting the utter devastation from invading her heart. She could feel a bigger monster looming from above her, and she felt like she was trying to hold it back with a single pinky.

For some reason… she felt like this madness was her fault. She didn't voice out this concern, but Shinsou's unmoderated silence as he watched her shoulders shake proved her that she was beyond forgiving, for whatever she was about to do. For what she knew was about to happen.

The man who held the answer to all her questions was waiting for her, and she didn't know if she was ready for her fears to be confirmed. She didn't know if she was ready to take the risk and defeat the man who was– no, had _already_ destroyed the world.

She was late. She had been too late. But maybe a small string of hope was being lain for her to take, and that was the only thing she was holding on to. Nothing was going on as she had expected: she had reached this lair when the world had been destroyed, her guildmates killed at the wake of destruction and the timelines messed up beyond salvation, very probably.

What was she there for? She had nothing to fight for, really. Even if her heart still clung to her guildmates' company, she knew of the underlying hate she felt for them. _Hate_ was probably a strong word, but it was the closest tag she could attach to her guildmates. She loathed how she had always been an outsider, how she had always fought for them when nobody would ever stop and notice her. She knew she was admired, but that was all she was.

A totem.

She was a totem of power for them. Nothing more, nothing less. And they held the power to destroy her heart, she hated that vulnerability, above all the way their leader was toying with her and robbing her of a happiness she seeked.

Maybe she was frustrated at things she couldn't control, but humankind had only proved to be worth cleansing, and not relishing.

The only pain she felt was the pain of the remaining bits of her heart clinging to them, and the thought of what it could have been if Aizawa had not existed. Perhaps that was why she was so fueled to destroy him: because he was the reason of her miserable life.

Everything was wrong when he was alive, when she was hurting. So, if she destroyed him, things would be alright again, would they?

She didn't know. But that was the only logic guiding her through the tunnel, through the ultimate darkness before the dawn she knew awaited her. She didn't know this, but that dawn would take a long, long while to come back to her.

"We're almost there." he saw, again stating something she already knew. Their steps were the only sound filling the big place of the fortress, and the more they walked, the more she felt like something was out of place. A feeling of unease settled itself on her belly and she swore she felt a shudder run up her spine to only make her grip on reality stumble.

The moment of truth was coming close and she didn't know if she was ready.

Suddenly, Shinsou and her turned a sharp corner that gave way to the big, enormous and gigantic double doors that took all space of the wall. Uraraka felt like no more than an ant in comparison, and she wondered what could lay behind the closed doors. The sorcerer gulped, hands balled to fists.

Soon enough, Shinsou spoke again. "Well, here we are. Aizawa must be waiting in there." strangely, the man seemed… relieved? "Man, I never thought we'd reach the day this happened. But here you are. Here I am. I guess he did gather us all together in one place, hm?"

He walked past her, and Uraraka followed his stride with frowned eyes. "What do you mean?"

The other sorcerer remained silent. He pressed his hands against the hard wooden plank and with a surprisingly low amount of effort, the doors groaned as they began to open. The boy stepped back to let her enter first, but upon a bit of thought, he turned away. His ears had picked up a familiar noise far away from them and he needed to go check it out.

These two cats could kick each other's ass on their own.

Uraraka couldn't ask quick enough, for Shinsou was already walking away, waving his hand at her. "I need to check something out. I'll be back shortly." before leaving completely, Shinsou walked back a few steps. The doors were still slowly creaking open. "Try to be quick about it. Things are starting to feel weird in here."

He was right. The pressure inside this safe haven was somewhat starting to take a toll on her. When they had arrived to the area, right then untouched, something in the air seemed heavy. The air was breathed in heavily and exhaled with exhaustion. Something was clinging to their shoulders, a pressure, a fear, sitting in their stomach and waiting to detonate.

The more they stayed there, the more unsettling the air became. It was becoming heavier on their shoulders and emptier in their ears, silence never a welcome thing to hear for none of them. Only the creaking of the old doors wafted in her ears, and before long, the doors gave sight to the room.

Uraraka slowly walked in, her mind swimming as she reached the summit of the world, the center of the universe, the core of corruption. The room was grand and empty, made of bricks and stones, all gray. At the back of the room, a tough slate of stone in a different tone divided the surface of the wall in twain. Windows looked into the room from outside, shedding a neutral cloudy shimmer for the gods to enjoy.

That was it.

This was the end.

She walked at a decided yet somewhat slumbering pace. Her small heels clicked against the floor, filling the silence with her presence, yet the man at the back didn't turn around. Uraraka would have expected him to receive her not warmly, but at least with a lukewarm greeting. After all, after what he surely considered to be too long, she had finally reached a decision.

Her hatred for this kind of hypocrite kind, the still clingy feeling of affection to comrades that would just forget her… if the decision was done to satisfy her needs and solve this mundial problem, why did it pain her so much?

Oh, that's right. Because she was a fool and fell in love with a human. But she knew what she had to do.

"Master." she called, her eyes serious and her eyebrows knit in a light frown. He didn't budge, he just stared off, his back facing her. The leather of his black uniform only made him look more somber. "Aizawa. I've arrived."

Her tone was a notch deeper than intended and that made him turn around in curiosity. "You finally arrived. Or rather, you finally came back." he sounded like the chiding father Ochako once had. "I was wondering when you'd stop playing around and make a decision. I guess you already made up your mind, right?"

The brunette let out a long, long sigh.

"Yes, I have."

"That's good." the man almost smiled, but if he did, the gesture was hidden beneath the sandy scarf he had on all the time. "Thought you would become a scaredy cat and run away, but–"

Before he could articulate another word, a hard burning fist flashed and collided with the man's cheek at breakneck speed, and was sent meters behind, flying until he collided with the wall, grunting loudly. His collison woke up dust that Uraraka gladly walked through, a shadow covering her eyes as she cracked her knuckles. The everlasting promise of a good fight.

That had been a punch of sorrow, of hatred, because as much as she hated humankind, this world, and its fate, she also hated the man who had decided to destroy it and haunt the memory of a small boy, back in the day. It had been a hit of vengeance that only announced the beginning of the judging for his sins.

"I might have plans for this wrecked world you destroyed…" her hand was charged with a beaming surge of light. "But before that, I'm going to take care of you, master!"

* * *

Shinsou could hear the distant crash of fury in the background, but he didn't really mind it much. As implicated as he could seem, the sorcerer was aware that he wasn't much more than another pawn in his father's scheme. Sure, he did have a relevant role, but he wasn't really forced to give a shit about anything that happened in this world.

So, he didn't.

Instead, he obeyed what instinct told him, and that was to help Aizawa achieve his ultimate goal. He did resent his old man for his sins and for his messy upbringing, as well as how he had made his son feel like no more than a marionette. Still, he had trained him into the warrior he was now.

Even if Aizawa had probably raised his son to be his right hand in the present future, that didn't mean he felt any less indebted. Just for the bond that tied them and for his own curiosity for what Aizawa preached, he followed his command.

This twisted ideology was what drove him to slap his fighting gloves on and walk through the corridor that led to the lobby of this fortress. His dead eyes didn't see any ruckus, but he could feel a very explosive and irritated energy radiating from afar.

Hell, he could even picture that brazen leader walking in just as Shinsou walked calmly to the lobby. The sound of his footsteps were accompassed to the slight banter he felt ahead of him, but before he could dash in their direction and stop their invasion, he felt a light pressure on his shoulder.

It was none other than Edgar, Uraraka's pet, that had flown to him from an open window at his left. The sorcerer looked on his shoulder to look at the beast, which had become rather big over the last few weeks.

Looking at it, he had no clue why Uraraka insisted on calling it a beast. Edgar looked rather mild if he were to describe it. "Hey there, you." greeted Shinsou, stopping to nudge the eagle with his shoulder. The eagle nodded back. "What are you doing here, hm? It's not the time to ask for cookies."

The eagle tilted its head in confusion. It was a rare oddity that fairy had decided to bring the animal with her. The animal had remained always on a side of this fortress (or their missions), because as she said, she didn't want the little animal to be hurt if she went too far with her magic.

He could still hear her lovesick voice mumbling about how pretty that beast was, how fond of it she was. She could be a lone wolf just as he was, she said. She can kick ass without a pet, she said.

Well, that pet barely did any damage other than pecking, so she indeed could kick ass without this damn eagle.

"You should be encouraging your owner, she must be blowing my old man out of the water. If she isn't, I'd be sorely disappointed." stepping close to another window, Shinsou nudged his shoulder to make the creature fly away. Instead, it jumped off Shinsou's shoulder and perched on the small stone ledge.

Shinsou gave it a small glare.

"Go away, don't bother me. I'm not gonna give you food, and I don't need you to fight." he barked. As he walked past the window, he looked back to check if the eagle was still there, which it was. He let out a small 'hmph' of annoyance, but two steps after that, Edgar had disappeared.

Shinsou adjusted his gloves to his hands and tied his cloak tighter to his body. The smell of forest and ash greeted his nostrils, much to his chagrin. It was an irritatingly familiar scent he had gotten accustomed with while following that guild's tracks, and by now, he could identify it anywhere.

"Dumb kids. They're only here to make things harder for fairy." the man took a sharp dagger out of his left sleeve, it had a small hole at the end of the handle and he used it to spin the weapon with his finger, then play with it between his fingers. He licked his lips, as if he was about to taste a wonderful meal.

The weather outside somehow got even fouler, and he heard a typhoon threatening to break loose. With a clenching of his fist, the typhoon slowly disappeared, as he couldn't let any weather instability outside the barrier ruin this haven. After timelines had collapsed, the Earth had become a hopeless paramo with unstable weather and frozen waters.

It was possible even a hurricane would break through, but Shinsou would use his attention span to protect the barrier while his dad and Uraraka battled it out with their fists. Right now though, Shinsou had to take care of the smaller stakes in this situation, so he walked onwards to carry out his role in this bizarre story.

The man could already hear agitation behind the double big doors to the lobby, which he gave a push so they would give way to see his frame. Bakugou, who had apparently been advancing until right then, stopped in his tracks to see the elegant man surface from the shadows, touching his gloves like he expert assassin he was.

"My, you are finally here. I supposed you wouldn't last long without bothering us." cooed the sly boy, walking past the doors and being met with gasps of surprise. It was striking that nobody seemed to expect him to be there, except Bakugou who seemed to be putting the pieces together. "What's wrong, Bakugou? Aren't you happy to see me here?"

The blond was all but happy to see the man there, and growled accordingly. Shinsou wasn't at all appalled by his behavior. If anything, he was amused by how riled up the man was, and that was just by his own presence. He was easily irritated.

Of course, the leader had to scream at him. "You asshole! What the fuck have you been doing in here!? What's with that clusterfuck outside!?"

Deep inside, Shinsou had expected them to be there, contrary to what Uraraka expected. Maybe she'd be happy, no matter her resentment. Shinsou, if anything, was extremely vexed by how energetic they looked. Bakugou was positively fuming, and the rest didn't seem half as tired as he had expected them to be.

Well, shit. He was hoping the storm outside would be enough. Uraraka had, too.

"You guys are just too stubborn. Too bad fairy is busy now, otherwise maybe she'd be happy to see you. Or maybe she wouldn't." the mage pinched the bridge of his nose. "Who knows with that girl. But she's busy now."

Upon mentioning her name some faces lit up in realization that they had come not only for refuge, but also to find somebody. Before Bakugou could scream his lungs out again, Midoriya spoke first. "Where's Uraraka, Shinsou? Where have you guys taken her!?"

So the little green thing had some spunk as well, huh? That _was_ a surprise. Shinsou almost scoffed and that made Bakugou grit his teeth more. He was livid at this man– how could he be so level-headed and look so arrogant when he had a whole guild against him? Bakugou had always loathed this man, and right now, seeing him in this bleak scenario as if he was the head of operations made his feelings somewhat validated.

But he wasn't there to spit on that dark mage.

He was there for somebody else. Somebody he had completely opposite feelings for. Shinsou wasn't giving answers though, he only looked at them with his dead, narrowed eyes as if their question didn't matter.

But it mattered. _She_ mattered. Bakugou had probably taken a while to take her seriously, but his feelings were a reality and he wasn't going to lose her to some damn villains now.

"Where is _she_ , Shinsou?" asked the leader, taking a step forward. His voice was menacingly calm and hoarse. He was not playing around.

Shinsou never answered, again. It was now when Bakugou started to think they had dared hurt her, because while she was extremely powerful and crazy strong, she was still mortal.

"I won't ask again." his tone turned to a lower hue. His calloused hand slowly travelled up to the handle of his cursed sword, one that could produce nasty wounds, wounds that would _never_ be healed or disappear. " _Where the hell is she_ , Shinsou?"

At least this time Shinsou gave a vocal response, maybe provoked by how _feral_ the hunter's eyes turned, how he was frowning in a way that revealed an intention to commit a gruesome murder if he didn't talk, and fast. He was an impatient man, that leader, and when something he cherished was in danger, he would act fast and violently, in the spur of boiling anger.

What Shinsou hadn't expected to see was such fondness in his eyes hidden beneath the rubble of his anger, the passion to find and protect that silly bad rotten fairy. But when Shinsou spoke again, he was still as vague.

His eyes were closed, maybe to swallow his defeat at doubling over Bakugou's request. "I can't tell you, sorry. She's currently busy with my old man sorting things out."

They didn't know about Shinsou's genetic relationship with his father and thinking about it, tasting the news and then thoroughly spitting them, things such as his philosophy made so much more sense now. "Your father!?" exclaimed Yaoyorozu. "Are you saying the owner of this manor is… your father!?"

"What is that to you, though? This is none of your business." interjected the purple-haired man. With these words, he grabbed the ties of his cloak and tore the cloak apart from his body, revealing a familiar leather uniform with a scarf wrapped around his neck, and with a swipe of his arm, a black long rod appeared on his hand, waking up the wind.

Bakugou's cape moved with the breeze and drew out his weapon, and so his comrades did the same. "We have come to retrieve her. We won't step back until we have her back, Shinsou." spoke Midoriya, stepping to stand at Bakugou's level. "Back off, and tell us where she is."

Bakugou's chin dipped down to intensify his glare. "We won't hesitate to beat your ass. I don't care if you are her companion, or if you and her are working together. Anybody that stands in our way, in _my_ way, will get hurt."

Yes, because maybe if he pointed out his personal implication with the mission, perhaps Shinsou would let them pass and help them. He should have known better than to think the son of a worldwide menace would have that mercy.

"And why should I care?" of course, he didn't give a fuck and Bakugou cursed for ever letting himself show that vulnerable implication. "You have nothing to do here. All you'll do is hinder fairy's mission more than you already have."

Bakugou snarled at the man. "I don't care what her mission is! If we can help her, we will! She is a comrade in danger, of course we will come to help her out!"

It was shocking to see that companierism coming from a man so violent he growled like he snapped necks for a living, even more so when he recalled how Uraraka had felt about them, how she had spoken so vulnerably about her pain, that pain she beared like a cross and had carried all the way to here, to the center of the world.

In a way, Shinsou understood her feelings, and for some reason, seeing these uncaring bastards coming to only hinder her mission came across as horribly selfish, as if they were fulfilling some sort of social hero mission, or to just feel content with themselves but not seeing what she was truly about to do for them.

They would never see it, they would never see fairy as Shinsou saw her.

And this ignorance stirred an alien kind of anger inside of him. "You preach about helping, but you all are so fucking ignorant!" he barked back, scowling and tapping the ground with his staff. "Maybe it's time I teach you what a good sorcerer can do!"

The whole guild saw this as a blatant challenge, and they drew their swords and weapons out. Flames flickered in the distance, flasks danced in excitement and a huge blade from a blond was drawn in his direction.

"Come at us then, fucker!" Bakugou's eyes twinkled in excitement at the prospect of finally beating this fucker's ass. "It's time we sort this draw between us out, you piece of shit!"

Shinsou smirked and changed into his battling position. His eyes were gleaming as well, and thunder flashed in the distance. Yaoyorozu turned her head to the window of the lobby, dusty and wet. The weather was so similar to that dreadful day when Kyouka died she couldn't help but feel a shudder of dread run down her spine. Something in this battlefield was wrong.

Something in this place, in this world, was wrong.

"Heh, it's been a long time since I last had a good fight." the man crouched to his knees to slam a hand on the ground. "Let's see what you got, then!"

Before anybody could protest, a low rumble came from the ceiling, and small pebbles of rock fell on them before the whole ceiling came crashing down and began to fall down on the unsuspecting warriors. However, Midoriya did feel the rumble and had jumped up, his body enshrouded in dark red bolts to then kick the debris beck to its place, and with this new raw surge of power, the whole ceiling was destroyed and flown out of place, giving way for the rain to seep into the fortress.

When Midoroya landed down, he realized that Shinsou's and Bakugou's staredown had not ended yet. The battle had only been brewing until now. Rain matted down their hair, made the scene darker than it was supposed to be.

Midoriya wanted to speak, but Bakugou shut him up. "You…" his voice was hoarse, and the leader, now angered beyond forgiving, drew his weapon in front of his comrades, as if in a protective gesture to shield them away from this lunatic. "Take them to Uraraka. Look for her. This fucker only wants my balls to play with."

There were several gasps of disapproval echoing throughout the chamber. "But, Bakugou–!"

"Can it, Todoroki!" he bellowed, frowning. His eyes were beginning to brighten, his tongue darted out to lick his lips. "I will take care of this bastard! Uraraka is what matters now, I'll be fine! This fucker has no bite to his punch."

"You are losing your touch, Bakugou." mocked the dark mage, his fangs darting out. "The ending of this battle was predestined from the very beg–"

A shadow flashed behind him right before he could end his sentence. He only had time to look behind himself before a punch kicked him to the other end of the fortress, in a style so familiar Bakugou would have sworn it was _her_ instead of Kirishima who had thrown the punch. The redhead watched the man fly proudly as he hit the faraway wall.

Shinsou grimaced as he supported himself and did a summersault to only skid against the floor, snarling in annoyance. He hadn't seen that one coming, and that alone was extremely frightening. Things were slowly starting to get out of Aizawa's control, or what the man had been able to predict all this time.

Fuck.

Kirishima gathered everyone to go down the door Shinsou had used earlier. "We'll look for her! Kick his ass, dude!" the redhead held out his fist with a grin. "We'll be waiting for ya! Don't take too long!"

As Shinsou started getting up, brushing dust off his garments, Bakugou walked the path to bump their fists together, grinning back. "Tch. Don't be a slowpoke and get the fuck outta here. If I find out Uraraka was killed off because of you all taking too long, I'll behead you."

Of course he probably didn't mean it, unless he _did_ and Kirishima had a reason to be concerned. Just in case he did, he raced down the nearby hallway with his peers, leaving the doors open, and when the guild disappeared in the distance, Bakugou heard steps coming his way, prompting him to turn around with a deep scowl of hatred.

However, Shinsou had his own opinion about his last words. "Father wouldn't hurt Uraraka. He isn't as stupid as to hurt his tools. He _needs_ her."

The blonde let his blade touch the ground. " _Needs_? What the fuck are you talking about now, you asshat? I'll kill you before you can see that bastard ever again, so save your ass licking for another life!"

Weirdly enough, Bakugou wasn't met with the typical reprimand, sass or hatred his insults were always met with. Instead, Shinsou looked at him with a disappointed dead stare, as if he was looking down on him. The feeling sparked a very familiar sort of contended anger within Bakugou.

"I thought you would have figured all of this out already. How stupid of me. After all this time, this far into this hell, I still have faith in arrogant fucks like you to be smart." he let his hand curl into a punch before him, and it was now wrapped in a thousand little white flames that cracked angrily against him. "You spared your friends from our fight, but all you have done is send them deeper into the coming pain. I will give you the honor of being truly spared…"

Bakugou couldn't help himself but grin wider at his high talking. His face was twisted into a mean mock. "Huh? What shit are ya sayin' now?" once more, he pointed the blade at him, and his expression plummeted to a very serious, hooded shady look. "You are the one who took Uraraka here… I will cut you into pieces, you scumbag."

"I am so confused. Why are you so smitten with her?" asked the mage, genuinely confused. "I might be sparing your life by ending it now but… in the end, if I fail to do so, the one who will take you down will be fairy herself, you dumbass."

The mage could barely end the sentence, for before he could spell the last syllable, a terrific explosion blew half of the room up, walls included, into absolute and utter ash, sans for the man that had protected himself yet ended up rolling out of the fortress and to the plains on top of the hill. Bakugou, far from giving up, gave him chase, jogging.

When he drew close to the body, he drew his blade out, making it gleam under the dying sun. Rain fell down on them like street lost dogs, like monsters still to be forsaken by the gods. But for now, the only important grudge was that between Shinsou and him.

"Are you gonna speak up?" he twisted his blade, his heart raw and his eyes ablaze. "Or am I gonna have to drag the words outta your tongue, freak?"

Shinsou, who had been deemed to be unconscious or severely hurt, chuckled. Bakugou wasn't surprised by this, yet how unfazed he seemed did irritate him a big deal.

"We'll see who has to drag words out, you brute barbarian."

* * *

Uraraka didn't know how much time had passed since their first punches, but it felt like ages. Hours, maybe even days. The mage spent all her energy throwing herself at her rival like a feral animal, only to be thrown back to her cage over and over again.

Her body and morale were full of dents; her rival, though, she was still aiming to carve a single wound on his leathered body.

Once more, Aizawa avoided one of her blows, and her sheer propulsion in the attack made her fly forward. The more time that passed, the less she was able to focus. With her last attempt, the man succeeded in drawing a cough out of her, which rung signs of alarm not within her, but within _him_.

"What's wrong, Uraraka? Feeling frustrated already?" his tone should be mocking, but he sounded surprised, borderline disappointed. He didn't sound tired, opposite to his rival who, frankly, knew she would be panting _hard_ if she mustered the strength to speak. If she had any.

But her determination to win was bigger than her body. "I am not!" responded she. Uraraka took a second to get up. "I am just getting started!"

After a very telling grunt, her body flashed at a breakneck speed to stand behind him, at a very unnatural speed Aizawa knew very well, and she was able to kick him straight to a wall. The noise of the wall cracking felt satisfying to hear, so much so she even dared grin shakily.

Much to her disappointment, Aizawa walked out of the cloud of dust and the crevice without much of a scratch. Yes, this was a thing too: no matter how hard she kicked, he would always get up again without a single bruise.

The man wiped a chunk of dust off his shoulder. "And here I was, thinking you had a bit of spunk to you. But you're fast… _too_ fast. I guess you're finally using what I taught you, huh?" his eyes narrowed in a mean, suspicious way. "You won't land a decent hit on me unless you mean it. What's on your mind now? I thought you came here to kill me."

Uraraka stood up straight. Her eyes held a serious almost chiding glance to them. "I am not here to destroy you immediately. I need answers. And for that, you need to be alive." she took a step forward. "What kind of pupil would I be, seeking bloodshed from my master? That's preposterous."

"But you're still going to spill the blood of your comrades for their sins in your own private judge, if you haven't already."

Her eyes narrowed, threatening him silently. "Shut up."

"Besides, don't lie to me. A part of you hates me as much as you hate all around you." Uraraka stared in silence, waiting for another hook to bait herself into. But if she died, he would too, and she wasn't backing off yet. "I can see it all in your eyes. Once everything comes to the revealing point, you'll kill me off. Or try to, at least."

Uraraka gritted her teeth. "I respect my master."

"You don't respect his decisions, though." of course she didn't, who the hell would? "You are one of the few people who can see the forest beyond one tree, but you are still fighting against it. You're like a scaredy cat that wiggles while being punished."

If she was frowning before now her face had contorted into a full scowl. However, a mild dash of confusion swam in her eyes. "Punishment? What are you babbling about now?"

Aizawa didn't seem appalled by her confusion. Now that she realized it, he hadn't been doing much ever since they started the fight. For somebody who was currently in process of obliterating humankind just like she was, he wasn't half as flashy and quirky as Uraraka would have expected. For some reason, his calm attitude, as if she was still a puppet for him to manipulate was unnerving to her, because she was _there_ to actually _fight_ that philosophy.

Deep in her heart, she knew something wasn't right and that an upper force was at play here.

"Do you think the gods above have forgiven you for your sins?" asked the man in black, making Uraraka's position grow more loose as she now switched to pure and genuine confusion. She seemed completely lost as to what he was talking about. "Humankind is bound to repeat its mistakes. You and Ochako… you two are one in the same. Two faces of the same rotting golden coin."

Her head instantly went back to her dreams, and it was weird to have those brought up when once upon a time she regarded them as something useless and just her mind playing tricks on her. Only when the Oracle and a few more brought them up to her did she start to find significance on them. Everyone insisted on them being the same person but… how? What did they even mean by that?

"I still have no idea what you are talking about!" exclaimed she through gritted teeth. "I am my own person! I came here with a mission, for all the pain this race has put me and this world through… for all the pain _you_ have caused with your tricks, for the fate you have doomed this world to live!" she summoned her staff once more. "You don't deserve my forgiving– nobody really does, after all this time."

That small speech had been character-revealing for her, for her mission, for her desire to finally spare this cruel world of the fate Aizawa had put in it and get rid of the pain humankind had caused: the Jirous, the heartbreak, the corruption, the malice, the sadness… Uraraka, the cheerleader of a whole nation, had stopped believing in love, in happiness.

She had come here with a task, yet Aizawa had still more to say about her.

"The more time passes, the more you become like her. The more time you let pass, the more her hatred will consume you. The more time passes, the more the timelines begin to enmesh and memories, feelings and faces overlap. Did you think you are above all consequences of what you did that day, Ochako? You really are an airhead."

That adjective, one that had been used to often by a certain blond, it struck a chord in her.

"Shut up." whispered she, a shadow cast in her eyes. "Shut up already!"

"You don't get it yet, Ochako." her name was pronounced with a new sense of hatred that sent a chill up her spine and made her brain gorge with blood. "This world, this punishment… this is all your fault, for what you did that day! Your own personal hell!"

The conversation was getting heated to the point Uraraka's eyes gleamed with a white spark that Aizawa had been seeking all along. This was the point when his plan would be finally set into motion. Her hair was becoming brighter, her eyes were starting to lose their original color, it was a gorgeous display for his old eyes to enjoy.

"That's why… the only person who can destroy this and make it work again…" suddenly, a clinking noise was heard and Uraraka didn't see it coming until it was too late. "it has always been _you_!"

Uraraka hissed, irritated, ready to swing her staff and attack with all force. "What are you–"

Before Uraraka could muster another word, chains that bit like snakes tied to her wrists and ankles and chained her to the slate of stone at the end of the room, hitting her head on the concrete. The impact made her sight blurry, the steps of her master cloudy and she felt like she was floating but also drowning at the same time.

Her eyes started drooping.

"That's why…" Uraraka's eyes fluttered close. "you are also bound to repeat the same mistakes too, _Ochako_ , and your punishment will never, ever stop."

* * *

"Wh-what is that!?"

" _Who_ is that!?"

Another body fell to the ground, splashing mud to the feet of their attackant. A hard thunderstorm had broke loose above the battlefield that had become crimson red, muddy. A blade was inserted into another chest, and then withdrawn without any consideration. To Katsuki, everyone who went against him was faceless, and they'd remain that way.

In this war, there was no space or time for remorse and mercy. His deep wine eyes glowed in the dark rain, and the blond man glowered at the cowering soldiers.

"What the fuck are you doing standing there!?" bellowed Katsuki, his sword pointing at them in ire. "Fucking get out of here! This shit is a fucking nightmare!"

And yet, he was still working his way through the myriads of soldiers– soldiers from _his_ nation. But something in his eyes told them he wasn't really looking into who he was attacking. His eyes were focused in a target that hadn't arrived to the battlefield yet, and his violent enthusiasm for that to happen was probably the most frightening thing to witness.

"Please, lord! You are attacking your own subordinates! We need them to win–"

"Shut it!" he yelled without any gentleness, because to him, they were just as faceless as the rest had been. If they stood in his way, they'd be a prey for his sword to slay. His head dipped forward, his grip around his weapon tightening. "Where the fuck is she?"

Some guards shrieked, and some refused to back down. A clap of thunder, then lightning. It flashed on Katsuki's blade and made it gleam, blood dripping down the edge. "Who are you talking about!?"

His teeth bare in the darkness of the storm. Rain matted down his hair and made a shadow loom over his eyes, his glare piercing through their mild spirits. "You know damn well!" he took a step back to get ready for another battle, predicting the same veredict as when he had asked to the now corpses behind him. "I won't ask again, where is she!? Where is the mage our dumbass of a leader jailed!?"

"Jailed!? He never jailed her, lord!"

"I don't give a fuck! Where is she!?"

Seeing his patience was wearing thin, the soldiers' swords quivered in their grip. Katsuki was unfazed by the rain, by the danger, by absolutely everything. "We don't know! As far as we know she was in a mission!"

Katsuki knowingly looked around him. Countless of bodies were sprawled around the battlefield unceremoniously, steam streaming out of their bodies that held a horrified expression, as if they had just seen a monster in play. He knew those attacks. He could smell her magic in the blood that soaked his boots.

"I know she's been here, don't fucking lie to me! We need to find her!" his voice was desperate, urgent, because he knew that the real menace in this war wasn't the backstory behind both parties, but the victim of their lies and their greed. If he didn't find her, knowing the power she held, she would make a terrible mistake.

He could feel her anger in the air permeating the rain like a blanket over a bed, an anger so irrational (it had been long ago) but also fucking rational (it hadn't been long enough) he knew she was going on a rampage now. Her powers were boundless, he knew, and it was extremely ironic that the power they tried to kidnap was suddenly releasing such hell upon Earth.

No… the energy around him was more than angered. It was raging, it was cold, and it was… _deadly_. It crept up his spine, under his clothes and seeped into his heart to freeze it into a sense of utter danger. He had this constant feeling something was coming from behind to kill him.

This was _not_ the Ochako he had gotten to love. This was a hateful spirit seeking vengeance. And he knew that this storm was her doing. That the sea of broken bodies with several burns and seething bruises were her doing. He knew this chaos and destruction were her doing.

Fuck. He had always loved how badass she was, but this was not being badass, this was borderline atrocity. "We need to stop her! You gotta tell us where the hell she is!?"

Seeing the man was alone, of course they were skeptic. " _Us_? What the hell do you mean by–"

A sudden rain of arrows fell down on the unsuspecting guards that made them scream in horror as several dug into their armors and pierced their skin, drawing critical amounts of blood out. The crimson liquid sprayed around and enriched the mud that floated under their feet.

Familiar steps came from behind him, walking leisurely, and keeping her bow and arrow on her back. "They weren't gonna speak. Somebody had to do it."

"You could have been more fucking patient, alien girl." growled Katsuki. "Have you seen her? Where the hell has Kirishima gone?"

"I'm not sure. He said he was sure of a location she could be at, and ran off towards that. But this place…" her temple shed a bead of sweat that faded with the rain. The number of standing guards was starting to be outnumbered by the amount of _dead_ ones. Soon enough, this battlefield would just become a sea of broken corpses.

Katsuki brushed some rain off his nose. If we follow the trail of bodies, we might find something. I just hope that enraged bitch hasn't hurt him." he refused to address that monster by her real name. It would mean admitting she had fallen too deep. "I'm sure she's close."

Mina nodded. "I'll follow you from behind."

Katsuki grabbed hold of his sword tighter, and with Ochako's sister, he rushed onwards. A thousand guards were met in the way to her, but he didn't care. He destroyed them. He destroyed absolutely all of them. He needed to find her.

He _would_ find her.

* * *

Blades clashed on the hill.

"Hah!?" Bakugou made his weapon clash with Shinosu's dagger, and he made the mage jump back towards the lake. The hunter stared down at him from up the hill. "What bullshit are you saying now, huh!? Don't make me laugh!"

"You are incredibly foolish if you think fairy is an innocent lamb with no intentions here, barbarian." his voice was a bit strained, but not at all amused by his ignorance. "Uraraka has things to do here. She is still on a mission."

Bakugou chuckled. "Yeah, the mission of kicking your asses!"

The man jumped down the hill and charged his sword up to slice the man in half, but he backed off and skidded against the ice of the lake, staff drawn out and slightly crouched to avoid any of his explosions if they came. Bakugou growled as the man slid deeper into the lake, and he didn't doubt to throw himself to the ice with him, like a beast after its prey.

"I won't tell you again, fuckface!" snarled the leader, pointing his sword at him. The more Shinsou refused to tell him where she was, or teased him, or just was fucking vague and refused to give answers, the blond would get more and more angry. "Stay the fuck away from Uraraka and stop messing with her head! You have already done enough, you had her on your side for long enough!"

Shinsou was barely able to dodge his blade as it came slicing the air towards his head. The man moved his head a little and the blade struck into the ice feet behind the mage, creating a small crevice on the surface.

Bakugou mistook his silence for surprise, for Shinsou was still looking behind him at the sword in silence. "What's up, hah!? You thought your head was gonna fly off?"

"Heh." Bakugou was taken aback when Shinsou looked back with a mean smirk. "Uraraka told me you had softened a bit. I guess she didn't tame the beast completely."

The blond was jumping to him again, an explosion ready to blow him away. "Shut the fuck up, Shinsou!"

The attack failed, he was too ire-driven to really notice the slippery nature of the ice. Shinsou avoided his attack and Bakugou slid deeper into the lake, all the mage had to do was turn around and pounce on the leader, a spell ready on his staff.

However, Bakugou was always quicker. He sprung back to grab into his sword and use it to spin and kick the mage on the chest, sending the dark man rolling towards the hill with a loud grunt of pain. He remained motionless for the minute Bakugou took to reach him again, sword pointed at him. He had a wolfish grin imprinted on his arrogant, full-of-himself expression.

The mage coughed a bit, grabbing his chest.

"What's wrong, Shinsou? You're losing your touch, loser." in a fashion that was painfully familiar, he gave the man a kick on the forearm to roll him around, and the leader drove his blade into the dirt before looming over him, crouching by his side. "Fucking wimp. You are such an empty fucking bragger."

Shinsou looked, for once, aggravated by his words– or maybe, it wasn't his words, but the meaning behind them. "Shut the fuck up, Bakugou! Your hits are doing nothing on me!"

The blond took his sword out of the ground and put it against his pulse. "Stop fucking ignoring me, you brat! Tell me where the hell you have taken Uraraka, and where your fucking father is!"

"You are not the damn problem, get off from me!" if they hadn't been sworn enemies, Bakugou maybe would have complied, but he refused to let this bastard off the hook no matter what, and growled at his undeserved adamant request. "I said–"

"Shut the fuck up!" Shinsou coughed in response. "You deserve no–"

Bakugou barely saw it coming, but the man took his staff and cast a spell so quick around him Bakugou had no time to grab his sword, as he jumped off with a hand on the ground. Shinsou made no attempt to move from his place as the flames faded, only sat up, then stood up. He ignored the presence of Bakugou's sword.

"I am telling you to be quiet!" yelled Shinsou, still grabbing his chest. "Can't you feel it!? The timeline… it's beginning!"

Bakugou wanted to get an answer out of that guy, but before he could ask, the mage fell to his knees, hand on his staff still, coughing some more. The hunter tried to take a step forward, but suddenly, a ripple of pressure vibrated from within the castle and outwards, causing his head to spin and swim with a wince of pain. A certain blur clung to his eyesight when the wave was gone, and after that cleared up, Shinsou was gasping for air.

"This place is going to burn down to nothing soon… it's up to fairy now." gasped the man out. Bakugo walked to his side, staggering. "Things won't change unless she does something about it."

"Damn straight. She's gonna whoop your sorry asses for messing with this place."

A cruel chuckle rolled off Shinsou's lips.

"No." he chuckled again, an again, and soon, he was weakly laughing with a genuine smile. "Things don't work that way here. She might have told you that but… if I haven't been able to spare your life, then nothing will save you guys from this mess. She will no longer spare you."

"What do you mean, fuckmunch?"

Finally, after what seemed like decades, Shinsou gave in, and told Bakugou exactly what he needed to know. "Uraraka is in the chamber at the end of the hallway. Just go forward and you'll see two big doors. Whatever you see inside… don't let yourself be deceived. Not everything that shines is gold."

Bakugou sensed a dark energy from his words, and frowned just as dark. "What have you bastards done to her?"

"To Uraraka? Nothing she could have prevented. But she should be unharmed. You might reach her in time to stop her… I don't really care anymore." the mage turned his head to Bakugou, who was finally starting to think things through. He could hear the gears turning in his brain. "I did what I could. You should start moving before it's too late."

Bakugou didn't need to be told twice. He swiftly grabbed his sword and started running up the hill, his eyes trembling as he sensed something terrible was about to happen, and considering Shinsou's words, perhaps it was beyond his reach.

But first of all, the king needed to find her.

 _He would find her_.

* * *

"Where could they have taken her!?" Kirishima ran frantically around the tangled hallways, opening doors to empty rooms and following his friends as they carefully trudged forward, yet also and not so subtly searched for their lost friend. Upon distant perspective, the fortress had looked huge, but still affordable to investigate.

Considering the amount of rooms that the fortress held inside, they were starting to reconsider their first impression. They opened doors to empty rooms. Some had shackles, and some had _that_ and splashes of blood covering the ground.

Last door, Kirishima saw that and he tried to not think about it too hard, but the amount of blood had been so outrageous a chill had made his whole body shake. The world could be a greatly bright place, but small corners like these made him shrink to a chip.

Yaoyorozu had also just exited a room. "I have no clue where she is, but this place is too complicated. This is that man's lair, right? What would he even need so many rooms for?"

Kirishima gritted his teeth. "I have no idea… but he isn't playing chess with them, that's for sure." when he saw Midoriya and Todoroki were advancing through another big door, he followed them. "Uraraka must be somewhere here… we aren't discarding the possibility of her being kidnapped, right?"

"Uraraka can be pretty scary." mumbled Todoroki, advancing to a bigger hallway. Hallways were getting increasingly wider and shorter the more the went forward, making it feel like the stairs and rooms were just extras added to confuse people. Todoroki was sure this was the case, and was only focusing on the bigger doors. "I think she would have broken away if she had been chained down. But we don't know who this man is."

"Well, he sure doesn't hold himself back with architecture. This place is a mess." commented Asui, a finger on her chin as she inspected the place. "What are we even looking for? We ran off and left Bakugou to his luck but we don't even know what we're doing."

She was right. They had ridden on the positive, hopeful horse of victory but they had no clue as to _where_ to ride it. They knew Uraraka was somewhere here, but they didn't even know if they should get her before they went for the man or they should defeat the man to get her back. They were trapped in a small labyrinth of straight corridors but convoluted objectives.

Mina was about to open a door when she heard small taps on the windowpane. The sight made her gasp in delight. "Edgar!" everyone turned to look at the archer as she opened the window and let the eagle perch on her arm, making her grin. "He can tell us where Uraraka has gone!"

The whole guild walked towards them, Midoriya fixated on talking to the bird that, as any other animal, just seemed confused as to where he was. "Edgar, you good boy. Where has your owner gone?"

Edgar cocked its head.

Mina nudged the animal with a pout. "Don't tell me you don't know where Uraraka is!"

Apparently, using the mage's name caused the eagle to finally understand. He flapped his wings and flew to the handle of a pair of smaller double doors to their right, and judging by his lack of movement, Edgar was waiting for them. He would guide them to the main room.

Excited to see finally some results, knowing Edgar was their last hope to find Uraraka as soon as possible, he immediately followed suit and opened the door to a room he was sure they had already been in. But that didn't stop him from believing in the animal, who was following them. "C'mon Edgar! Where to next?"

The animal did something akin to a nod and flew to the doors to their left, a way they knew they hadn't taken before. It just had felt too weird the way would just be a straight line without any mystery in the mix, yet Midoriya, the current leader, was trusting enough.

This time, it was Yaoyorozu who opened the door and the surprise was evident in her eyes. Unlike the paths they had seen before, the corridor was completely straight without any door to confuse the visitor, which was new. Perhaps the building was made to be confusing not because they wanted to confuse their visitors, but because of the horrific nature of the building.

Todoroki hesitantly walked ahead. "There seem to be no traps in here, just windows. Let Edgar lead the way."

As predicted, the eagle didn't find any other door that he could remember seeing, but what he did was fly for a bit and then land on the ledge of one of the windows, and deeming that the rest of the way was obvious, he hopped a few steps back before spreading his wings and flying out the window.

Mina was the only one to try and chase it, with Kaminari mildly worried something was waiting for them ahead, but the rest already knew where to go, and advanced with quick steps towards the medium door that waited at the end of the hallway. Before they reached the door, Asui had realized something pretty jarring.

"Have you guys realized… that the decor and the esthetic is incredibly similar to what the Jirous had?"

Midoriya gulped. "Yeah…" the very tense glances everyone shared among one another was telling enough: everyone had thought it, but perhaps it would have been better to let it be left unsaid.

Todoroki, who was walking first on the line, grabbed the handle of the door and twisted it. The metal let out a groan of protest. The door opened slowly with a creak, and when he saw how dark it was inside, he decided to open it more carefully and step in first. Midoriya sensed his worry, and also stepped carefully before the rest did.

The door swung open completely afterwards when they made sure there was no danger, yet the sight that awaited them intimidated the warriors like nothing else. A pair of gigantic double doors stared down at them, so big maybe even a ship would fit through them. They were just too damn big to not conceal something of great importance behind them.

"This must be it." stated Yaoyorozu. "Can you guys hear anything?"

Everybody made a small effort to hear through the doors, but all that welcomed them was silence.

"Not at all." said Kirishima, brows down in worry. "If Uraraka is going through the so-called fight of the century… it must be a damn silent one."

Midoriya tried to make any noise out of the silence, but the more time that passed, the tenser he felt. The thought that Uraraka could be bleeding to death in there, or being silently beaten to death… the leader gulped. It was then when he also wondered if Bakugou was alright.

God, if those two died he wouldn't know what to do with himself. But he still had faith in them. What he didn't have faith on was the twisted world their lives had become.

"We gotta get in." stated Midoriya, taking his sword out. "If we don't hurry, we could be too late. We have to kick the door open and be ready for whatever we see, so… on guard!"

Like a professional army getting ready to strike, the guild took out their weapons, looking at the door readily. Midoriya walked to the big doors, sword on hand, and stared at the big doors. A small bead of sweat ran down his temple, and he bit his lip. Many pictures entered his mind, many outcomes, but he knew only one would come true.

Silence. Just utter silence.

And then, he took a step forward and with a lighted up leg, he kicked the doors open with such a strength it picked up the dust between the rocks that formed the floor. They stormed open and bounced against the wall, hinges rattling. As the dust cleared, the warriors were surprisingly met with no welcome, just further silence.

For a split second, Midoriya thought they had been to late. That was, until he saw the image before him.

The familiar mage was hanging from chains on her arms, vines wrapped snugly around her middle like a tender embrace. Her head was lolled to a side, presumably unconscious, and her staff had been shattered on her feet. Her skin was tattered with dirt and wounds, her clothes slightly shredded, hair matted to her cheeks. The image was the opposite from desirable. It was worrisome.

Before long, a man walked in front of them. His stride was slow, almost too confident for a a man surrounded by powerful warriors. Behind him, the mage's body twitched lightly. "Oh, look who's come, finally. I thought you'd never show up."

Uraraka's eyes opened slightly, just a crack. Through the exhaustion and the drowsiness, through the cold feeling of the shackles finally binding her to the Earth and not letting her fly, she saw light. She saw green, like an evergreen forest. Then, she saw red, like that of a burning fire or a dying sun. Then other colors, the tones of a rainbow, staring back at a pitch of black she knew very well.

Judging by their expressions, nobody in that room knew the man that had finally tied her down after so many months of flying aimlessly. It was painfully ironic how, in the way they knew nothing about this man, Uraraka had known him for as long as she could remember.

She tried to grip the chains tied to her wrists. They felt colder than ice, harder than steel, silent as they bestowed a hard punishment on her now battered body. She could barely feel any of the pain he had inflicted on her, but she for sure knew that she needed to get those shackles off. It was natural.

Life had cursed her with a life of free wandering. It was only natural she would want to fly again.

"Who are you!?" she heard Midoriya bellow. The small slicing noise of his blade made it sound more menacing than she knew the leader to be. "What are you doing to our guild mate!? Let her go this instant!"

Funny. She wanted to chuckle. Funny how the only one to ever care about staying had been her at first, how the only one to ever want to join, to make nice with the leader– it had all been her. In the end, all she had gotten from this were stupid bonds as she stumbled to realize that all of this was a lie. Humanity was completely dirty and full of filth.

She gripped the shackles a bit tighter, making them cackle through the air, her teeth gritted as she recovered her strength. She couldn't stop flying just yet. She couldn't perch and peck. She had to keep on moving. Nobody or anything would ever stop her from carrying out her job.

The sound made them look at her, now. Even Aizawa turned around, amused by her recovery yet not at all surprised. Uraraka had inspired many expressions in him: satisfaction, anger, sadness, entertainment, victory, loss. But she still hadn't gotten him to taste what bitter fear would look like, what surprise felt like.

It was getting on her nerves.

"Oh, hey there, Ochako. Look at that, your friends just showed up." he said, as if entertaining a child. Uraraka frowned at him through her tousled bangs. "It's funny. Look at how excited they seem to be here."

The only thing that mattered there were not her friends. "Don't call me that! That's not my name!"

Aizawa, inevitably, didn't change his ways. Like she knew he wouldn't. "That's your name. It tastes weird. But it's like trying to coat a food in sugar: it will never stop tasting bitter no matter how much you push the real thing away. Your friends would have to find out one way or another." after that, he gave her his back once more, purposefully riling her up. Behind him, the chains clicked again. "I'm making you a favor."

Uraraka tried to tug at the chains, a small sound reverberating in her chest. She wasn't the most patient being when pressured, she was rushy, and needed things done. Midoriya observed her try to get rid of the chains and attempted to walk towards her. "Uraraka, what does he–?"

However, a clothed black arm in leather stopped his stride with the deadly stillness of a tomb. He looked at the kid somberly, not attempting to cause any fear, as if genuinely not wanting to put him in danger. "Don't, kid. Don't get close to her. You should have stayed behind and died with the ice. This is not your place to be."

Of course the suggestion of death struck a weird chord in him, and Midoriya jumped back with a defensive statement. The statement also made some eyebrows raise among peers who took out their weapons as well. "What do you even mean with that!? We're safe here, right?"

"I mean, are you?" Aizawa disdainfully looked back to the beast he had imprisoned, who was glaring at the scene as if threatening to not say anything, or _else_. He didn't seem to care, though, and being considered like a naïve, harmless creature by her own master made her completely furious. "I might have saved you from the storm outside, but there's something worse being brewed here."

"Of course there is!" yelled Todoroki from behind, taking a brave step forward. A part of him expected the man to knock him back with some sort of flashy move. Considering he had chained Uraraka down (by no means an easy feat) this man had to be powerful. Nothing but a blank stare came. "You are the man behind all of this, right? RampAge, the timelines… you must be Shinsou's father."

"Calling me father isn't completely accurate, that kid was always incredibly capricious. But that's not important right now." everyone drew a breath in at how lightly he was speaking, and how he wasn't even denying anything… yet also not attacking them? Was he arrogant, or was he careless? "You could say I am the one behind all of this, no matter what you mean by _this_ , it's most likely my creation."

The way he used the word _creation_ rung weird in her head, and judging by everyone's faces, it had the same effect on her peers as well.

"You're the one who orchestrated this!? Why are you doing this!? And… how even did you do it!?" asked Midoriya. He was desperate, he was clueless, and while he knew these weren't the questions one would ask… what questions would one ask, really? What questions could one ask to who had created one big mess of a timeline havoc? What was there even to be questioned, really?

In fact… what motives did he even have to do all of this? Motives to create RampAge, motives to mess with time, motives to chase after a colleague and kill an entire empire… and motives to actually chain down his subordinate, his pupil? What was going on inside that man's head to do all of this?

"I already said I did. And as to why…" he trailed off shortly, looking at the stormy sy outside. Heavy rain was closing in, a very nostalgic downpour, the _original_ rain. It felt like the world was about to end that day. "you could say I have no motives. I am just spawn here, with no goal, no purpose, but to drive the shooting star in the right direction. It doesn't matter where the star goes. I always follow."

Uraraka expected no less of this man. He had been cornered by a powerful guild, a force she knew to be unstoppable, but he still talked big and didn't even flinch at the menacing tone they held. He probably knew how badly they could fight, and how many teeth they had under all that lamb hair. Something told her something was utterly wrong with this man.

Something was _off_.

"You need to fix this!" Midoriya now opted to plea instead of order, expecting a better result this time– or maybe, just expecting _something_. Instead, all he got was another silence, as if expecting him to define what _this_ meant. He pointed at the window. "Look at what you've done! All life in this country, as far as the eyes can reach… it's all dead, now!"

"Country?" he sounded almost _offended_ he'd narrow his magic to a corner of the world when in fact… "This whole planet is only a husk. It's the fate it deserves for raising a whole species of selfish, greedy humans. But don't worry, this is only a dream, a nightmare. You will wake up very soon."

Uraraka tried a hard tug at the chains. It didn't work. "Aizawa, stop confusing them! Your bullshit won't work on them!"

Aizawa looked back again, this time sort of irritated. Anyone would have expected him to strengthen whatever magic was holding her down, or make her weaker if her energy was the issue holding her back– but he didn't. In fact, he pointed out something that seemed utterly obvious. "Stop struggling, Uraraka."

Midoriya saw this, yet again, as an aggressive statement that made him get on guard once more. Yaoyorozu spoke up this time. "Let her go! She hasn't done anything to you! Why take her, out of all people!?"

Uraraka could only gulp at this, because it was never clear what her relationship with this big villain was. Now, at the end of the story, it was jarring to think their relationship had been secret all this time, and it coming to light now was horrible to contemplate. It was one of those things she expected to take with herself to the grave.

"She's a very rebellious _pupil_ , you see." that pointed word made them blink in confusion, letting their gears work and put the pieces together. Shinsou, her collaboration with him, and where she had been all this time… she had always been here, in this fortress in the center of the universe. "And if she wants to get out, she can anytime she wants."

"Anytime… she wants? And, pupil?" Midoriya mouthed those words in a low voice that almost broke Uraraka's heart, who despite all her hatred and frustration, only wanted to explain herself and redeem herself– she hated this. "What is he talking about, Uraraka?"

She hated this feeling. She hated feeling guilty for seeking power, for wanting to find answers. His voice was vulnerable, trying to approach her, wanting answers with a question so innocent and blind she wanted to cry. They always pulled at their bonds to make her feel guilty, and it broke her heart to see herself so weak, so desperate to make people who hurt her happy. She hated them.

She hated them _so_ much.

"Shut up." she murmured, her eyes shadowed by her hair. "Shut up!"

Aizawa turned from her to her peers. "She seems agitated... she always gets riled up by the truth. She was always rather fidgety and a bit volluble, but I sure never expected her to get this irritated." Uraraka audibly _hissed_ at his almost chiding tone. Why was he looking down on her so much?

She tugged at the chains once more. "Shut up, just shut up already!" her voice was ragged with emotion, raw, with almost pure boiling ire contained inside of it and a familiar gleam of ferocity in her eyes that had never been there before. Aizawa could see that fickle fire start to thrive inside of her, and that was exactly what he seeked.

His plan, her punishment, her fate, was about to be set into motion. Midoriya, seeing that this man wasn't going to attack them, drew his sword in, slightly worried because he had never seen her so _agitated_. Uraraka was fierce and restless in the battlefield, but she wasn't as raging and biting as what Aizawa was making her to be. Or what those chains were making her to be, for that matter.

He tasted it in the air, he felt it in his bones– something was terribly wrong in that picture.

"Uraraka, what's going on!?" asked Kirishima, aware that if he took a step forward, he'd probably be stopped. "What is this man talking about?"

Aizawa, walking a few feet forward, chuckled. "It's funny you all think this is my fault. Am I in charge? Indeed. But this is not my fault. If anything, it's _hers_."

Unsurprisingly, a very hard yank of the chains was met with his statement. " _Me!?_ How can it be me!? I didn't even know of this issue when I arrived to the village! You are making no damn sense, Aizawa!"

She saw every of her peers mouth his name, as if trying to remember if they had heard it somewhere. Nothing else came out of it.

"That's what you think, Uraraka. But that's not the matter now." he looked back to her friends, and shoved his hands in his pants. "You kids should be thanking me. As soon as I free her, which I won't, things will get ugly. I don't care if they get ugly for me. I won't die here, that's for sure."

Oh, he _would_. Uraraka would make sure he was buried ten feet below the ground, in a lead chest without a key to set him free. Demons like him, manipulative cunning masters like him should be burnt to ashes and blown away with the winds. Yet, there he stood, talking vague as if the world depended on it.

Perhaps it actually did.

Before the sorcerer could mumble another word of resentment, Aizawa spoke again. "Uraraka is out to get my blood. However, as soon as she has my head on a silver platter, she will point her staff at you and finally conclude the mission she was created for."

The accusation sounded so grossly _unreal_ nobody believed him. Even if what he said was partly true, Uraraka couldn't help but feel elated her friends had so much faith in her. It was a shame, though, because I would make her task harder on the long run. "Stop saying such lies! Uraraka is our friend, she would never attack us!"

Those words… they were too much for her, because at this point in the story, they made no sense anymore. Too many mistakes had been made, the threads had been twisted too far, her faith had been pushed too far by one too many. She didn't want to hear that anymore.

Her fingers curled around the warming chains. "Shut it…"

Yaoyorozu took a step forward. "We know she did shady things in the past but… all she has done is help us! She would never do that, she would never betray our trust like this!" she wasn't met with any halting gesture from Aizawa, which encouraged her to continue. "She is not a villain, she loves us just as much as we love her!"

That word… _love_. The feeling of love. A feeling that she hadn't felt in so long.. a feeling she had longed for, a feeling she once felt for a certain blonde, and in another way for a group of smiling people. Time had passed, she had been told things weren't easy, that they were impossible when she had only wanted a home to belong.

Nobody in this world would give her a home.

All she could do then was make herself a home of her own, a little orange house in a gray field. "Shut up…"

"She is tiny, but she is badass!" said Kirishima, his tone laced with incredulity and hoping whatever mess they had gotten themselves into would come clearer if they got her to calm down. What did she have to do with… with this madness, with this hellhole, with this haven and with this man? He had insinuated she was his pupil, so could it be she…? "We think she's amazing! And we know her better than you!"

Oh, that was just utter bullshit. Even Aizawa almost grinned at this easily breakable notion. They were such fools. "Shut up…" she whimpered.

Please, don't make this more difficult.

Please, don't let our bond get in the middle of what's fair.

Please, don't let our bond break her resolve. Don't test me. Don't make me kneel down. Stop.

Stop making me feel weak.

 _Stop making me cry!_

Before somebody could speak again, she grabbed both chains and tried to fling herself out of her restraints. "I said shut up!"

Everyone turned their eyes to the heaving figure at the back, who was panting and her grip on the chains was shaking, as if hesitating. Oh, _that hesitation_ , that thunder before the storm. Whenever he head the chains rattle, Aizawa would almost shudder in pleasure. It always felt good when missions went as planned.

Because this life was just that: a mission.

He allowed Uraraka to speak. "You…" her voice was almost hoarse. "you guys have no idea about anything! Stop presuming everything you know about me, I'm… I'm tired of this!" her fingers rolled stronger around the metal chains, her hands almost hurting at the grind between the material and her skin. "Stop making me weak, stop making me doubt! I was fine on my own, I was… I was just fine!"

But even a few meters away from them, her in the light and them in the darkness, she knew she had always been alone.

Her shoulders trembled, and her voice was losing its ferocity in favor of a raw emotion that was trembling to be freed. "Stop making me hesitate... stop trying to make me forget about the oblivion, about the loneliness, about my broken heart… about my parents. About the war... "

The mention of war made Aizawa finally acknowledge her directly. "There you go. When you talk things out with your friends, things always become easier, don't they?" Uraraka raised her eyes to him to bare her teeth at that maniac, a bastard she wouldn't hesitate to kill the moment she found a way out. "I thought you'd never speak coherently again, Ochako."

"O...Ochako?" it was _Kirishima's_ voice who came out and spoke. "Why is that name so familiar?"

Aizawa didn't show any reaction to this. "Maybe another time, another story. Maybe some other day, you'll hear the full story. But it's time her feelings came out… her true feelings."

Uraraka hadn't even watched her words, but this was the first time she felt like what she was saying was completely legitimate and genuine. However, she had heard of this phenomena. Her feelings… they weren't hers, but at the same time, they weren't. Perhaps not only things and people were being overlapped and enmeshed as timelines met and tangled.

Maybe, feelings got in the way, too. Something was starting to change within her.

Her body grew tense as her comrades' faces fell. Kirishima was particularly thoughtful, she could tell. For some reason, he was awfully familiar to her as well. Perhaps they were letting her tell the full story by herself.

Her head fell slightly. Despite her thoughts, despite the spiking emotions that were beating at a painful stacatto within her heart, she still decided to direct her spit towards Aizawa. "Stop talking. It's been enough."

"It clearly hasn't." because she hadn't snapped yet. The bomb within her hadn't detonated yet, and no matter the painful consequences, he was certain everything yet _nothing_ would change. They'd go back to the beginning. _She_ 'd go back to the beginning. "You need to watch out for your words Uraraka… you could hurt somebody even further. More than what you're about to do."

Shut up.

Shut up.

 _Just shut up!_

"RampAge was born for you to defeat him over and over again, an endless cycle that will never end. How many innocent people have to get hurt for you to put an end to this mess, Ochako?"

Her control was slowly slipping away. It would only take so much time before she finally gave up and fought the exhaustion to set herself free and get rid of that man just like she had set herself to do. Uraraka was about to tell him to stop talking, to stop pushing her further, because she _knew_ she was under his control all the time and he was using her once more via provocation for his dark business.

It was very likely what she wanted to do was also what he wanted to do. And she'd die before becoming his indirect ally.

However, before she could even blink, she head the sound of a familiar big blade being drawn in Aizawa's direction. She raised her head to be met with blistering red eyes, trembling eyebrows, burning glare and his face shrunk to a face of pure and uncontained fury.

"Let her go this fucking instant, you dipshit." his voice was hoarse, possessive and fierce in a way that made Uraraka's heart flutter– and the rage within her, the hatred she felt for this burning affection throbbed within her like a canon being fired. But still, like she fool she was, she gasped in surprise, because that tone of his was new.

Bakugou could bite, but he never killed. It seemed like he'd go through with it, this time.

Aizawa wasn't at all scared by his blade, which looked scary as hell under the dim light of the storm outside. Thunder rolled in and struck with a flash of lightning. "I thought Shinsou would probably get rid of you before we did."

Bakugou gave him a wolfish smirk full of confidence, which only proved to her he didn't know who he was going against. Or, maybe he was even stronger than she anticipated, which would only make things worse. "He was pure talk and no bite. You could have trained your dog a bit better."

His words made her gulp at the implication. It seemed like Shinsou had been already taken care of, which represented the countdown to the victims that would lay here. Thinking about it, only a winner would prevail. Either Aizawa and the guild were spared and Uraraka won or the guild won and got rid of Aizawa and potentially her when they discovered her true intentions.

Or at least, they _believed_ Aizawa when he spoke about her intentions. For some reason, knowing Aizawa was the direct villain here, there was no way he'd win. But she still wanted to make sure she was the one to bury him alive.

Aizawa only turned to her, ignoring Bakugou completely. "Everyone is here, Uraraka. As expected, we have gathered them all in one place. I think it's time you finally do what you're supposed to do."

His words resonated within her with a nostalgic echo she had never felt before, making her almost stagger in her decision. Her fury diluted into confusion and hesitation at what he meant. Her guildmates looked at him, then at her, probably in search of any reaction. What could she say, though, when everything had been said?

"This place is about to collapse. The time has finally come for you to decide what to do with all of this, Ochako." everytime he said that name, it felt like a small pang, a needle, was fired at her heart, which was swelling to burst. "Your hatred for these people is not yours, no matter what it feels like. You don't hate them, do you?"

Oh _no_. Her voice lowered to an almost inaudible whisper, her fingers rolled around the chains, feeling magic being released inside of her. "Shut up."

"Your heart is betraying your mind, your memories. It's all getting mixed. The time has come for you to do something, Ochako!" he yelled, instigating her hatred, her fierceness, her magic to start to thrive within her and sky-rocket at a staggering speed. The fire was starting to raise. "If you don't do something, you will never save them, Ochako! No matter the hatred, no matter the resentment…"

Don't say it.

She gripped the chains one last time.

 _ **Don't say it.**_

"No matter your feelings, if you don't save them and free them from the future pain… if you don't do it, the pain they'll feel later will be unmeasurable! You're the only one who can save them, you _want_ to save them, no matter the resentment, no matter the hatred–!"

That was enough.

Before he could articulate another word, a familiar cling came from her side. Suddenly and at a flash speed, spikes of ice started covering the complicated cob of chains that tied her to the wall, freezing the metal restraints in place and making them weak to the touch. Uraraka glared at him one last time, fire in her eyes, before tugging at the chains and shattering them in pieces, wrapping her in a fog of flying shards of frozen metal.

Everyone was mesmerized but also horrified at the display of raw power. Their hearts beat one last time, throbbed as a warning of the display of dominance she was exercising. Her hair was getting lighter, her eyes were gleaming, and her clothes were becoming clearer, lighter as well.

Uraraka landed with a somber expression on the ground and directed a running chain of ice spikes towards the man that had caused her so much pain, towards the man that had put her in this place, and he was consumed by the frost a second later in a pillar of smooth ice. Still, through the translucent surface, Uraraka could distinguish an arrogant smile.

 _I'll be back._ He would say. _I always come back_.

Nobody dared murmur a word as she summoned a surge of magic in her hand and made the big shard of ice containing the man blow up in pieces with a flash of blinding light. The impact made them all take a step back as wind picked up inside the fortress, and small embers of fire flew in the air and past her whitening hair.

When the fog cleared up, she was giving them her back. Uraraka stared at the small mound of ice that was left, and Aizawa was nowhere to be seen. She remained silent, and a clap of thunder echoed in the distance. The final battle, the real one, was about to begin.

It was time she purged this Earth of their mistakes, and at the same time, spared her friends from the destruction that was to ensue.

Kirishima stared at her, speechless. "Why… why hasn't that transformation dropped out?"

Midoriya could only reach one possible conclusion.

"That's because the enemy wasn't Aizawa." she slowly looked back at them from over her shoulder, frowning. "It's _us_."

The girl slowly turned around, coming face to face with her friends. An intricate seal appeared at her feet that made her hair get up and float around her, and her eyes only shone brighter. The world was about to come to an end.

"My master is dead... the world is disappearing, there is nothing left in this world for me to do." she whispered, eyes closed as she focused her magic under her feet. A light shine was settling around her body, like a glow, like a halo. "I will do what I was born to do! We will settle the fate of this world, together, tonight, in this final battle!"

She pointed her glowing hand at them with a fierce scowl.

"If you win, it shall remain… but if I do, I shall set this world free!"

Lighting struck as a new villain was born to their eyes.

* * *

The storm was only getting worse and worse. It was getting hard to walk in the battlefield, and not because of the few soldiers that still remained, but because of the foul weather that threatened to destroy the very lands they were walking on. Mina and Katsuki panted in the blizzard, eyes squinted, searching for the familiar figures of their friends.

Excepting one was actually an ally and the other… that was up to time to decide.

"I can't see a damn thing." rasped Katsuki out, gritting his teeth to advance through the mud, one step at a time. The wind barely let anyone walk, or even see for that matter. The ground was starting to gather a solid amount of muddy snow that would soon transition to sheer white.

It was also getting eerily cold, as well, and he could tell Mina was starting to suffer the consequences of that. The girl stopped to a halt, her hands covering her arms, shivering, because had they expected this weather and they would have used better gear. But nobody had. Why the hell would anybody host a war in the middle of a blizzard? It made no sense.

Katsuki could very well dare say the only people standing up the the battlefield were him, Mina and Kirishima, and very possibly Ochako. There was no way this blizzard was natural, and judging by how it was getting harsher, they were getting close to the eye of the hurricane.

What they didn't know was if they'd be met with sunny weather or a fierce thunderstorm. The battlefield had had enough thunder, very likely without her help. Bodies were becoming scarce as they trudged onwards, but the blood seeped towards the source of the storm like a magnet, or like a river naturally branching to the ocean. They were walking on ice, blood and mud.

The war had stopped long ago, and it had had no apparent winner. But unbeknownst to Katsuki and Mina, there was another hidden and darker wan threatening far out of their reach.

Mina almost fell to her knees. "Katsuki, we can't go any further! The blizzard is only becoming more and more intense! We can't go any further!" bellowed she through the wind, and in that moment, the blazzard fell a notch faster on them, making the blonde also stop to shake forming frost off his body. "We need to find shelter!"

He turned to her with a scowl, hands balled into fists. "Where the fuck are we supposed to find shelter!? There's nothing left here! The war, the blizzard… maybe it would have fucking been better if we were stabbed by some lousy guard." he hated to see this, but the realistic part of him wasn't seeing any realistic way out of this mess.

The war had left no survivors, or houses, or civilians to live with. It was safe to assume, again, that only the four old friends were the last standing, with one wrecking the little land they had left. Everywhere he looked at, there was devastation, and seeing how the storm was only getting worse, it felt like the war would never end.

He stopped walking, too, panting. But the blizzard was still falling harder, faster, stronger, no matter where they moved. The chaos seemed to reach as far as the eyes could see, temperatures dropping, houses being destroyed at the storm's wake, and as Katsuki felt the frost fall harder on his skin, that could only mean one thing.

"We aren't getting closer to her." rasped he out, clutching his chest at the strain of the walk through the wind. " _She_ is getting closer to us."

Just in that moment, Katsuki and Mina heard something. It was incredibly faint, almost inaudible, but considering the lands had been silent ever since the last building fell down except for the wind, any noise of human presence was picked up easily.

Steps made the forming snow crunch. A figure was slowly, calmly walking towards them with a eerie pace. Mina and Katsuki waited, receiving the roar of the storm on their faces like a hungry dragon seeking food, seeking a prey. They grunted in discomfort, trying their hardest to stand still and wait to see what presented itself.

Squinting, Katsuki started to make out a silhouette. It was faded to grey, lurking in the middle of the blizzard and hidden by the falling hail, but he could distinguish its identity perfectly. Hands slouched on either side of her body, one could think that she wasn't doing anything to provoke this storm, but this hatred, this fierce wind… it could only be her doing.

She took a step out of the cloud of fog surrounding her body. "They fell for it." said her frail voice. "Humans can be so easily provoked, and the aliens… oh, they are incredibly foolish as well."

Suddenly, the winds changed direction and seemed to come from behind the pair of warriors and towards the figure. The winds spun in a whirl and took the hail with them, leaving only a heavy rainfall behind as Ochako walked slowly towards them on the snow, the blizzard slowly fading away.

Katsuki took a look at his surroundings without tearing his eyes away from her, lest she did something funny. There were no trees left. There were no houses left. There was nothing left other than the ruins of a civilization destroyed by the storm, by the greed, and by the sins of two nations seeking power. One could say the clash had ended the story, but…

All that there was left was snow that spread beyond reach. Snow, and _her_.

"Cover this land in white…" she took another step. The rain kept on falling. Her voice was almost a lullaby. "Wipe the impurities away…"

And then, she stopped. Her hands were still slack on either side of her body and it was just so fucking hard to think she had caused this mess, this massive destruction. But she had. He knew the taste of her powers, the reach of her magic. This blizzard had been what had ended the war. The storm had crushed both armies with a steel fist, one so silent and now so calm it was terribly jarring to witness.

They knew of the rage she held within her, the need for revenge. She had succeeded, hadn't she? Then, what was left to do?

Katsuki stood a few meters from her, as did Mina. Both stood there, waiting, stances relaxed as if they were to greet a friend. Her words held the weight of not a friend, but.. she didn't look like a friend anymore.

"Ochako." Katsuki pronounced her name carefully as if it had the power to destroy the world. "What are you doing…?"

Or rather: what had she done?

"I thought everyone would be gone by now… it would have been better if you guys stood back and watched, it would have saved you a lot of pain."

She slowly took out a small dagger with dry blood on the blade, which gleamed under a clap of thunder and the strike of lightning. Katsuki watched her wield the small weapon carefully, eyes wide like saucers, because he would have never expected her of all people, the sweet and innocent Nameless to finally put a sword to his neck.

It couldn't be.

"Ochako…" Mina whispered, her eyes incredulous as the girl pointed the dagger at _them_. "You… you can't!"

The girl's eyes gleamed with something dangerous, and with another clap of lighting, the spoke.

"It's over." she mumbled, her tone like a delicate cobweb of pure iron. "I will put this world to the disgraced end it deserves… and end things right here– all of us, gathered in one place."

* * *

Bakugou's blood ran cold when he heard Uraraka pronounce those words– what on earth was she talking about?

"Uraraka!" called he, teeth gritted as her emotions flowed relentlessly within her. She stared into his soul with a precision that only foreshadowed disgrace and pain. "What the fuck are you on about? Snap out of it!"

What the fuck was wrong with her? Everything was happening too fast and his mind was barely processing it all. Blood and adrenaline pumped in his veins and made his head throb, his heart soar and his eyes be terrified for her. He glanced around him quickly, and he didn't see the ferocity of a guild attacking an enemy.

No. Instead, he saw the mild hesitation of a guild that didn't want to be forced to attack a friend.

But Uraraka seemed to have other plans. "Shut up!" she screamed, her tone grave and authoritarian, like that of a general in battle– like that of a god facing humanity, somebody holding the threads together that was about to snap them loose.

Uraraka raised her hand in the air and a big, black and spiky staff appeared out of thin air, and whilst catching it, the magic heave of the object made slight wind wake up around them. She stared at them in blank decision, taking slow steps towards them, hair waving slightly around her.

She made the staff tap the ground and with that, a cackle of fearsome power dissipated into the ground. Kirishima tried to make her stop, but… "Uraraka, stop! You're not–!"

"Didn't you hear me!?" screamed she, stopping to grab the staff tighter. "I told you to be quiet!"

She pounded the staff on the ground and from it emanated a branching frost that made the air cold around her, and the biting ice made its way to each and every one of the members of the guild to the rhythm of invisible drums. The could taste the slight flavor of victory in the cold climate around her, because it was fated she would win.

She would purge the sin, the evil, and spare her companions from all the pain she was about to inflict. After all… Aizawa was right. Ochako could hate humankind as much as she wanted, but no matter what feelings Uraraka knew of, she didn't feel them with the fervor she had once believed.

She hated humankind. She hated evil, she hated corruption, and while Bakugou and Midnight had planted the seed for her plan, deep inside… it was still hard to inflict pain in people you had grown warm to. It was so unfair of them to exist in such rotten species, and in her state of rage, she couldn't make any decisions.

But she knew what she had to do.

She had to destroy.

She had to destroy them all, and spare them like that. In the middle of the violence, that's the least she owed them.

Uraraka shifted her eyes to see the ice quickly reaching some of the warriors and making them gasp in horror, but while it succeeded in grabbing a few, another bunch had cut the surge of ice into pieces with their weapons. The mage made a small hum at the failure of her quick plan, but didn't double down.

She stood there, observing their reactions. When they realized that some of their peers had been frozen – Iida, Tokoyami, Asui – was when their faces dropped in horror and then looked at Uraraka as if they hadn't expected it, and she also saw the hesitation that had been there before die.

It was now when they realized that Uraraka was far from joking, and that as Aizawa had said, she was their more fearsome enemy. The reality of it all was so jarring they needed to know _why_. Todoroki, seeing the horrified, betrayed expression left behind in Iida, frowned at her with that ferocity she was more used to see. "What have you done!? We are your friends, Uraraka!"

The line between enemies and friends was thinner than hair, she wanted to say. But perhaps they wouldn't understand that she was doing it for them, and also for herself.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a fury induced Midoriya charge at her with all his might, his ability kicking in as his body was lighted up in sparks. Without a single hint of doubt, she lighted her right arm in flames and decisively punched the man on the stomach, sending him flying to the wall.

Several screamed his name. Others were just utterly confused. As Uraraka looked over her shoulder as flames floated around her and died, she met Bakugou's eyes, those wine, trembling orbs of his that stared at her in disbelief, but also with a throbbing betrayal that fell cold on her body. Out of them all, he had never expected this turn of events, and Uraraka could see the lingering question in his eyes that his mouth couldn't speak.

 _Why?_

She turned fully to them, her stance unwavering. "I won't lose. It's fated to happen this way again." her voice was quiet unlike anything her friends had ever heard from her. She looked so tiny, but the power in her eyes and her voice made her terrifyingly big. "This world was already destroyed before I came in. Humans, criminals, mages… it doesn't matter."

Her scowl fell deeper, and her eyes turned even clearer with a malice that had never been before– or, perhaps, it _had_ been there and nobody had noticed, and it had been growing stronger and stronger after each and every dent into her faith.

Midnight's actions. Bakugou's heartbreak. Ochako's life. She hated humankind. She hated these people but… she also wanted to thank them for the journey. Not even these people could make her turn back on her decision, but she would take it on her own hands to kill them, get her revenge for the pain they had inflicted and at the same time, save them.

In a beautiful irony, she would save them from the pain. She would purge their species, but almost clement, she'd give them the honor of sparing their lives with a clean death. Nobody but her could remain alive.

"All races are just a manifestation of greed and evil." she spoke, somber. "You should thank me for ridding the Earth of the weight of such species. Perhaps, one day, we can meet again, and you'll thank me from taking you out of this helpless world of despair."

 _Stop_.

Something throbbed within her, making her head pound, speaking through all the confusion in her heart, through the hatred and the love. _Stop_ , it begged, sobbing deep inside of her, _please, stop_.

But she couldn't stop. These people… these people she still felt love for… they had misjudged her, they had… _No_ , the voice sobbed, trembling within her, making her suddenly stop speaking and grow even colder, _you're making a mistake! You… you don't hate!_

But she did. Oh, she did. She tried to shake the voice away, gritting her teeth and growing even tenser and angrier as her feelings grew even more and more confusing, and her voice grew in intensity. "I won't back down ever again! This world is no more than a lie!" a seal shone under her feet, making her hair float again.

Bakugou took his sword out, and as she spoke, looked outside again. It didn't look like the world outside had a way to thaw itself out of its frozen shell, and perhaps it was indeed fated to remain that way. But he wouldn't back down without a fight– a fight to make her recover the old, tired heart he had fallen for, and get her to solve this mess.

In the end, he was wrong. They had been too late, and killing Aizawa had done little to nothing about the issue. "Uraraka, you gotta fucking listen to us! You are making a mistake!"

He was saying the same as that voice that was making her doubt and she wouldn't have that! "Shut up! You are the ones who have made too many mistakes! And I won't let this world suffer your sins any longer!"

The seal shone bright and then spread all across the room, making the Earth shake under her once more. Her body trembled once, and then, a wave of power rippled from within her as it pounded to be released, running through the air and making the warriors fall on their backs with grunts of pain. Uraraka then panted and clutched her chest.

 _Please,_ quivered a small, pitched voice, small and frightened, _stop. You don't want to do this, there has to be a way out!_

There is no way out, she knew. That hopeful fraction of her heart was not in charge, and knew nothing of the situation. She raised her hand in the air, fingers stuck together to summon a blaze of arrows pointed in their direction, her stare blank and lost in her own confusing maze of feelings.

Perhaps it was better if this whirlwind of emotions was put to rest before it took over her.

And for that, Uraraka needed to get rid of her enemies, her friends, the hinders on the road. Time was slowing down around her, as if warning her that she was running out of time. She wasn't giving them any time to react, and as soon as their bodies fell on the ground, she was attacking again.

She flung her arm in their direction, and the arrows pierced through the air to reach the warriors, making her turn her head at the horrid spectacle. She heard a familiar scream of pain, and then, a body falling to the ground, blonde hair being tainted with crimson.

Only a few left. When she turned back, her friends were looking at her as if she was… a _monster_ , eyes trembling and shock written all over her features. Now they knew there was no way to stop her.

Clutching her staff to her chest, she walked forward again, and two of the five that were still alive dared charge towards her, half a body set in flames with a scream of anger, and another with daggers poking out of her body. But their fate was exactly the same.

In a flash, their bodies were thoroughly stabbed to the stomach with the blink of an eye, and as Uraraka walked towards the other three, their bodies fell to the ground like lifeless corpses, and while her heart winced at the noise, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The more people that died, the more space her resolve took in her heart. The more she killed, the more peaceful with her mission she felt.

"Their anger…" she took another step that splashed on the blood, voice lost in an echo. "is fated to die like a candle. It won't last much longer… This world is getting weaker and weaker."

Bakugou stared at the pool of blood around her, his body shaking at the sheer horror this naïve creature had caused. "Uraraka…" he whispered in disbelief. "why… how did you do that?"

Uraraka had no clear answer to that, as flashing through time and speed was like instinct to her. The twisted threads of her marionette body, the ones she had tangled to skillfully to confuse the gods above– they knew of no theory, just magic and death.

Bakugou looked too horrified and shocked to say anything else, as if he didn't want to admit that she had been the one to twist the threads of time further into this chaos. It couldn't be, could it? But… the ice magic, her inhuman speed; it all could mean one thing.

She stared in silence, and the little voice within her spoke no longer.

Bakugou's eyes were covered with his bangs. "You…" he grabbed his sword tighter, his shoulders shaking. "I should have fucking known!"

Uraraka stared at him with a blank expression, crowned with a frown of dismay. Perhaps he should have known but… her intentions weren't bad, were they? She had an ireful spirit squirming for release, and a small white flame within her puting it at ease, but with the little cackle of a match, it would set her body in flames.

She could feel the world becoming colder, number.

The time was coming to an end.

Bakugou was looking at her with a glare that would have made her run away some time ago, but not anymore. The voices of her ancestors were telling her to claim what was hers. This whole world was hers, right now. These people before her were not only hateful, sinful, nasty, evil, but they were also inferior to her.

For Uraraka, one thing was clear: if she knew something was possible, she would go all the way to the goal. In doing what she had set to do, not only would she punish them for their sins, but she would also save them and thank them for the happy memories she cherished.

Right? That was what she had to do, right?

 _No, you don't!_ screamed the weak voice within her, _you can cease this! You're making the same mistake again!_

Same mistake? She didn't pay attention to that.

Uraraka blinked her eyes into focus, aware of the metallic smell around her, the grunting of Todoroki and Yaoyorozu at either side of her body, on the ground. If they so desired, they could grab her ankle and push her to the ground. She knew they wouldn't, and if they did, it wouldn't matter, because she would still win.

Aizawa had once said there would never be any other destiny but for her to win, no matter what she did. In the wrong or in the right, she was invincible.

Maybe with her mission she'd also bring an end to her own existence. With all the pain carried within her, perhaps it'd be better to bury it with the debris of this nightmare than to release it and hurt her loved ones. Knowing her luck, knowing how destiny hated her, perhaps she would be left to writhe in the ruins of this world for eternities on end.

She wouldn't die, and she was fine with that. She'd use her energy, all her magic, to prune this place into oblivion, and maybe her body would take her somewhere else. Maybe, she could finally go home– to her parents, in a gray rainy lonely hill.

Curiously enough, she realized that the only ones left standing were Bakugou, Kirishima, and Mina.

Distant, treacherous and dark rain loomed over them.

Mina took a careful step towards her. She didn't know why she was alive, but she'd make good use of it. "U-Uraraka, please! You don't need to go on doing this!" her expression was pure panic and anguish washed into one. Her boots tapped on the ground. "C'mon, we can go home, okay?"

Home? What home did she know of? Uraraka wanted to laugh, but instead, she remained silent for a little, letting Mina come to her slowly, but not with the intention of letting herself be appeased– but with the intention of letting her bite into the bait.

Kirishima only realized this too late. "Mina, pull back! She is not herself, right now!"

The archer looked back for a second, and only looked at Uraraka again when she heard a small step coming in her direction. "You guys are incredibly stupid, sometimes. There's something you haven't realized just yet…"

Mina only stared. The solid color in her eyes told Uraraka that she had a blind faith in the golden heart of her dear mage. Humans like her could not see the good in her wrong actions, the good will in her heart. To them, to the good heroes, she was just a villain. And to her, the hero, they were the villains for pulling on her strings.

Who was the good one? Uraraka didn't know. She took a step in Mina's direction and raised her hand up in the air, a big black scythe falling on her hand, which she gave a spin in her hand and perched it on her shoulder, walking to her with a deepening frown. With a kick to the ground, she made the ground quake and the pink-haired girl fall to the floor on her back.

"What you guys don't know…" she loomed over Mina, a nostalgic bleak atmosphere wrapping around them. "Is that this is who I truly am!" she brought her scythe up, about to make a gruesome judgement, her unblinking eyes staring back at Mina's fearful, horrified ones. "And that this… I'm doing this for you, I'm going to save you!"

But every human was afraid of death, even the bravest ones. Death was a weird concept, one that made heads swim and tears leak, but Uraraka would show them what the true meaning of honor death was. They'd die without pain, and by the hands of somebody who loved them.

The girl was about to swing the scythe down. The small voice within her started trashing even more to a degree Uraraka's sight clouded momentarily and got to her head, and suddenly, came the voice of the terrified girl below her, reaching with a gentle hand into her heart and starting to tug at the threads of her complicated maze of a mind.

"Please, don't do this…!"

The scythe was swung down, and Mina screamed, tears of a forgotten family leaking out of her eyes, with a bellow that almost conquered the whole fortress, the whole country, the whole universe, and reached Uraraka like thunder and a drum.

" _...sister_!"

Uraraka's breath hitched and got stuck in her throat.

The scythe stopped.

* * *

"Ochako, stop!"

She didn't. She wouldn't stop anymore.

Heavy gray rainfall fell on her shoulders like the tears of a little boy, making her even more aware of her surroundings, her senses sharper than ever before. She flashed through the battlefield to meet them and attempt to swipe them out of her view, her ire unstoppable, but they jumped away from her way quickly enough.

She panted, then chuckled shakily as she turned to them. "So I gotta stop now, huh? Why didn't anyone tell those greedy captains of yours to stop when they slaughtered my family, huh!? I bet even you two knew about this all along!"

She made a sharp turn that made rain momentarily stop, and then kick in their direction with the shape of a watery sharp blade that dissolved with a slice of Katsuki's sword. Ochako watched her magic fade and gave her dagger a few twirls, almost too calm, her eyes shadowed by a glare of unconcealed anger.

"Stop resisting." she ordered, staring them down, taking a step in their direction. Her eyes swept to the right, to the left, raindrops cackling on the bodies of falling warriors. She didn't know if that putrid metallic smell came from their armors or the blood under her feet, but it only made the scene the more suiting. This havoc, this victory…

Her plan was brimming with ecstasy. She was going to win and it felt so.. _good_.

"Sister, you don't know what you are saying!" screamed Mina, gritting her teeth as she grabbed an arrow and bow. At this, Ochako stopped in her tracks, and for a second, Mina's breath hitched, thinking she had made a dent in her plan. The alien girl pressed an arrow to the thread of her bow. "Don't make me do it!"

Katsuki looked at his comrade. Her hands… they were shaking. Her whole stance was, in fact, shaking– but Ochako didn't see this. The sad, nostalgic sound of rain was all around them, soaking their bodies, but never dampening their resolve. Ochako wouldn't bend down, and nor would they.

Ochako only frowned at her sister. At the girl she had grown up with. Glared at her as if she was a stranger, or worse, as if she was nothing more than an enemy. "Get out of my way, Mina. The quicker I do this, the faster I'll…"

She trailed off for some reason, because deep inside, she didn't really wish to harm them. But this world… it wasn't worth keeping around when it was inhabited by such monsters. Humans and aliens were painfully alike, and she didn't want any of it anymore. In her state of madly driven revenge, she blamed all her disgraces in every walking being she put her eyes on.

Sadly, that didn't exclude Katsuki, the man she loved, and Mina, the woman she once called a sister. _They were her friends, but alas, they were monsters too._

Mina let out a small grunt of frustration and finally tensed the arrow. Ochako took another step further. "If you don't kill me, I'll kill you. And you know this, _sister_." she almost said the name with venom, for she wanted to provoke her to speed things up. "I will not stop. And you know this."

At this, both frowned at her, disappointed. Ochako's body was hemmed in with fog and a cold tetric rain, but it didn't stop them from seeing her true colors through the darkness that was plaguing her heart.

Mina let out a small scream and finally let go of the arrow, sending it soaring towards the girl in a wobbly attempt to kill her. The arrow sliced the air, flew through the rain, and was aimed straight towards Ochako. However, it only grazed her left ear and chopped a few hairs from her bangs off.

The arrow landed somewhere else. The rain only got fiercer, and as Ochako took another step in her direction, the fog followed her, soaring up like claws of a dragon climbing from a cliff.

Ochako stared harder at them, taking a step forward. "Your aim got weak, Mina. But don't worry… if we meet somewhere else, I'm sure you will thank me for this."

And with that, Ochako surged forward like a shooting star, charging power into one hand to knock Mina back with the power of a meteorite, and made the alien land a good distance away, knocked into the ruins of a house. Ochako skidded to a halt on the snowy, bloody mud, the thick white fog agitated and moving at her wake.

In order to finish her off, Ochako had planned to summon thunder and burn the remains to a crisp, but she heard the small steps coming in her direction and spun around in time to stop Katsuki's blade form beheading her, using her now iron-covered hand to grab his blade.

The girl turned around slowly, facing him with a deadpan glare as she grabbed the blade with her fingers, her grasp trembling as he made more force. "Hey, that's tricky." almost laughed he, but his ironic chuckle quickly turned into a frown as he saw she was not quitting it. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

She made a small noise, akin to a growl, and used her grip on the blade to give Katsuki a big kick on the stomach, making him land on the ground. She took careful steps in his direction, and the boy watched.

Her body was framed by the thick fog, twilight knocking in and shining above her through the stormy clouds. The background was gray, bleak with remaining mountains. An eternal weak gleam sticked to them as the moon bestowed a last chance to make things right. The rain was getting almost thundering at this point, and when Ochako was looming over him, it was soaking and digging into her shoulders.

The twinkle in her eyes he had once secretly fallen for was gone, and he could only think it had to be a hard burden to deal with, an empty heart like hers. He wished he didn't understand. "Ochako, what the hell… what do you plan after this, huh!? Can you fucking see what you have done!?"

She blinked at him as if she didn't understand. "This world was already destroyed before I came in. Humans, aliens… it doesn't matter. All races are just a manifestation of greed and evil." she stated, her voice dead, monotone, unlike anything he had ever heard before.

He was now sure of it.

She and him were the last ones standing.

And he knew: soon enough, the only one standing would be _her_. And he couldn't understand why.

"Shut the fuck up!" he quickly recovered from her kick and leaped up to try and kick her back, but the girl jumped out of reach before he could even graze her. "You're being nonsensical! What's the damn point in doing all of this, you fucking dumbass!? Just some petty revenge!?"

He watched her jump back and take his sword out again, holding it up. Her hand was slowly morphing into skin again and he felt like she was straight up _insulting_ him. What point was she fucking trying to prove? That she was stronger? Was she actually mocking him and showing him she could be _meaner_ than this?

Katsuki growled, because if there was something he could not stand was people mocking and looking down on him, and when Katsuki got angry, things weren't destined to end well.

Ochako promptly threw the weapon back at him, making Katsuki get more fired up. "It's not your business, Katsuki. None of this was ever anyone's business!" she exclaimed, wiping her cloak back to emphasize her point. She stared at him through the heavy rainfall and he could only catch his sword, observing her.

He dipped his head forward slightly, frowning. "You are just another fucking alien. I don't give a fuck what your skin color is, you're still another freak like them." he heard her hiss. "Look at what you have fucking done here! There's nothing left for you to walk on, you dumbass!"

Shut up.

Shut up!

"Stop talking already!" she put both her feet on the mud, walking to him, then getting into a fighting scene before dashing forward, taking to him in a flash, but he jumped out of her way faster, his quick reflexed coming into view. Upon landing again, he realized the ground was getting wetter and wetter.

Soon, they'd be fighting in a swamp. "Ochako, you're being ridiculous!" she came at him again, not giving it a rest, and when he successfully avoided her, she came to a halted skid and jumped up with a summersault, landing behind him and giving him a kick that sent him meters away.

His body rolled in the air and landed with a hard thud and a groan of pain. Katsuki had been walking, fighting the storm for… days, hours, he didn't know anymore– but he needed it to end. There was nothing left for him to fight, and even if he turned her to his side again, where would they even live at this point?

The moment Ochako got hang of the threads of this world, she had won. She had won before the war had even begun. Her storm had ended all living beings in this planet– the trees were naked, the soldiers were dead, and both fighting families had been rightfully obliterated.

Because in her head, if she couldn't have a home, nobody would.

In the distance, he heard the flash of thunder as a weapon was drawn. Splatters of steps were coming his way, wet and muddy, silenced by the fall of rain. He groaned a bit and opened his eyes. His cheek was laying against the mud, cold and wet. His hair was matted down, his eyes dulling, and a small sound rasping through his throat.

Her distant, cold and shadowed figure advanced through the cold mist, making her look more like the reaper she had become. Her body emerged from the steamy cocoon, and when he saw her again, she had a bigger, sharper and darker dagger in her dainty hand.

But this time, there was a difference,

Her shoulders were shaking.

She was crying. Her tears were masked by the rain, but her sobs were loud enough for his sharp ears to notice. He didn't move from his spot, his body slacked. There was nothing to fight for anymore.

And in a way, she seemed to be realizing this as well.

Her voice came in a wobbly whimper. "You're right." she said, standing next to him, her weapon trembling in her hand, her eyes never recovering their original doe. "There's nothing else to live for. Your kind destroyed it!"

No. Maybe his kind had threatened the patience of a chaos upbringer, but they never caused any pain to this land. Not in the scale she just had. He looked up, blinking weakly, trying to make their eyes connect so she would understand that, in the end, it didn't matter who had done what, or the cause. The world was finally done with.

She had won.

Ochako didn't seem happy about it.

"Why… why can't you just go away?" she asked, bringing a hand to her face to swat some hair away from her eyes, and held it there, lamenting, grieving. "All of this is your fault. Your kind– this place is better without you."

Katsuki coughed, his eyes blinking in and out of focus. "Does this world look better without humankind, Ochako? Does it fucking look any better without your pseudo-family running around?"

"Shut up." she stared at him, her lips almost pursed, her knees quivering and her eyebrows trembling, not knowing the answer to his questions. She didn't know what she would do, now.

Ochako took the risk of looking around, and was met with utter silence, other than the rain that fell around them. The sky was dark gray as far as the eye could reach, the moon no longer visible. The horizon only showed white mountains and black trees stripped from their leaves. There were no animals, no humans, no aliens to give this place the life it needed.

She looked up. There was no sun to look up to anymore, or no stars to hope for.

"I guess it's over, then." she said, soft, but no longer warm. "I won."

Thunder echoed in the distance repeatedly, as if to angrily answer to her question. Katsuki, lying on his stomach before her, couldn't bring himself to answer, just stare at her. He could see her spirit slowly breaking, her hands had a small tremor to them, and he was sure tears were leaking down her cheeks.

It was finally over.

Ochako looked down again, her expression appeased, but not satisfied. "Say, Katsuki." her voice came shaky, but not with ire– it was impatient wonder, as if he held the answer to a question she desperately needed a resolution for. "If you could change anything… what would it be?"

Underneath her, he chuckled. It was an easy question, yet it took him seconds to ponder if it was right to answer this way.

"Maybe your parents wouldn't have been killed, and we would have met casually. We would still be friends, and I would still cheer for you." he spoke softly in a tone she had never heard of him. As light was starting to flicker out of his eyes, she became even more and more restless. "Things were never right to begin with. I'm sure as hell this war would have happened one way or another."

Katsuki was right. But that wasn't the answer she was looking for, and as he grew weaker and weaker, she gritted her teeth harder in frustration.

But he wasn't done. Weakly, he attempted to roll over so his back was on the mud. His muscular arms were spread on the thick mud, letting the rain dampen his skin and clear the dirt off his body.

"I don't know why… I can't see this being over yet." in his last moments, his voice was ultimately soft and tender, almost wonderous like that of a child. That was when Ochako saw a red stain start soaking his right side, his skin breaking apart, and her fingers twitched to heal him. She didn't. "There might be a world beyond this one. Whoever is up there… you're being allowed to do a fuckton more than I think is reasonable."

Ochako stared at him _hard_. "What are you talking about?"

"You won't be left off the hook so easily… or maybe you will. What are you even gonna do now, Nameless?" that change of name made her breath hitch, because he was robbing her of a name he himself gave to her. "Are you happy, now?"

No.

She felt _empty_. She felt like the small seed of a revenge had destroyed everything within her– all her morals, all her abilities, all her feelings, all her memories, her _love_ ; everything. There was nothing else within her when she had let a vengeance take over her soul.

Now that the judging had been done, what was next?

She couldn't see beyond the horizon, literally and metaphorically. "I'm satisfied." but she was not happy. Looking at him, she shakily brought her dagger up, taking in a hard breath. "But my deed is not done, yet."

Katsuki stared at her blankly, his throat constricting, but not even then did he let her see through him, see the fear and the uncertainty. He only closed his eyes and sighed, knowing his brash act wouldn't take him anywhere. After all this fighting, he had realized he had been fighting against a wall all along.

A wall too hard for him to break through. Now that he was in his last hour, his final words, the final pages of his book, he found himself only wanting to see one thing:

he wanted to see her _smile_ again.

"Ochako…" he coughed out, an uncanny crack forming in his voice at the emotion that flooded his throat, that made his heart shrink. "I… I wish we had met somewhere else. Maybe… we can meet again, someday."

Maybe they could. But in the meantime, she had a final quest to conquer.

"I know." her voice was ultimately weak, trembling with emotion that was sprouting through her veins like flowers in the bloom of a warm summer, all in this cold, dead world. "I wish things had been different as well, Katsuki."

And with that, she made the only respectable thing she could have done. She let the dagger fall straight into his stomach, piercing through his numb skin as he bled out into the mud, tearing his flesh apart with a gross, yet deaf noise that got lost in the rain. Blood splashed on her legs, on the wet mud, and she shook as his eyes fluttered close, his lips parted a thin trail of blood trailed down his jaw.

But she couldn't see this. Ochako didn't want to regret this, didn't want to regret killing her lover, she couldn't do this anymore.

Bringing herself to her knees, the mage covered the eyes of the man as his breaths got weaker, as his soul slowly left his body and the world seemed to spin to a slower and tender cadence, letting her, for once, breathe. But why could she finally breathe when all she held dearest had been lost to the storm of a revenge?

Ochako put her lips over his forehead, taking the dagger from his stomach, fingers winding through his hair tenderly, shakingly. Thick and rich blood dripped down the dagger, to his shirt, and she slowly positioned it over his faltering, swollen, prideful yet golden heart. And in her last moments of company, before she was plunged into a world of loneliness, Ochako smiled.

"I'm sorry," she grazed his chest with the sharp blade. "and I love you, Katsuki."

She finally pushed the dagger into his chest, through his skin, pursing her lips and not looking as she felt muscle meet her blade, fight the intrusion, but soon enough, Katsuki's body stopped fighting, and eventually, he died in her arms, blood soaking her body as it left his.

Ochako had finally won the war.

But the only one to celebrate it was her. There was nobody to clap for her.

She didn't have time to cry, because when she looked up, the thunderstorm was getting even harsher, even crueler, and was searching for a warm puppet to land on. However, Ochako knew what she had to do.

The rain only fell harder, the _real, distant and nostalgic rain she had been looking for._

A bright seal appeared under her knees, streaking from under her body to run across the whole planet, a shining seal being formed and runes shining from under the muddy water, under the oceans, under the rocks, under the mountains– her magic reached the whole planet as thunder began to close in around her.

The deafening noise only ticked down to when the devas would finally punish her, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

Ochako let out a howl of pain and slammed her hands on the center of the seal, marking the center of the universe, the center of where the world was about to end, but also marking a new beginning. She pushed all her might into the spell, knowing it was time to bid this world, this existence, this _timeline_ **,** a bitter farewell.

She would purge this world out of existence, and finally clean all impurities from this world.

Thunder struck from right above her, and the seal let out a blinding light of warning as Ochako's body heaved, whimpered, and finally released all her energy to purge this planet out of existence and clean all mistakes out of this land.

The last thing that was heard was thunder, rain, and a deafening scream of pain. And then, the world went black.

* * *

Ochako's eyes fluttered open to be met with more black. The rain was gone, and so were her wounds, the mud, and the body of her dead lover. Wind howled in the distance, played with her hair, but no world was to be seen.

This was what she had created. A world of nothingness where nothing was running anymore, a world without a time, without a land, without light. She had finally wiped the surface clean, and her quest was done.

But seeing this, she remembered Katsuki's words. _Maybe, things weren't over for her yet._ Her breath hitched, also remembering how she had been warned that there was always somebody higher than her watching, judging, deciding. Little did she know, she was about to meet the devas, then.

"You have finally arrived." spoke a clear, deep voice above her, a voice all too familiar, dead and echoing. She couldn't pinpoint where it came from, but the suffocating darkness and the deep voice made her feel infinitely small. It only made sense the voice came from above. "So, you finally did it. You just had to go against us, didn't you?"

Ochako didn't answer. Well, it was clear the devas wouldn't be happy about this resolution, after all she had just destroyed the world those gods seemed to be sovereign on. She had robbed them from marionettes to play with anymore, and she had destroyed time and space. What were both entities – her and the devas – supposed to do now? The game was over.

Or, at least, it was supposed to be over. In anticipation, she remained quiet. "You must think you are above all consequences if you thought it'd be over for you. You destroyed our lands, you destroyed your own loved ones– just for the sake of revenge."

A revenge they deserved, she wanted to say, a revenge they really deserved. But she couldn't find the words to say so. She tried to be daring in her glare to the heavens, but all that she was met with was the howl of the wind.

She had no effect here. Ochako held no power, this was the playground of the monsters under her bed and above her ceiling.

"You have made a severe mistake, Ochako." with those words, she suddenly felt air being pushed out of her lungs, and she was _choking_. "You cannot move on from this. We will let you taste the blood of your loved ones over and over again, and you won't be allowed to move on ever again. This will be your punishment."

Ochako gulped at the prospect, but she was almost curious as to what she would find. The world under her feet seemed to be becoming more unstable, hearing small cracks like glass fill her ears as the wind stopped howling, and instead, came in her direction.

"You will live the same nightmare over and over again, Ochako, and maybe then, you'll discover what's the right thing to do."

And after that, her world faded into black again.

Next time she woke up, she was lying on mud in the middle of the rain.

* * *

"Sister?" an incredulous voice came from Kirishima, as if it wasn't his own, and she backpeddalled to lower the scythe down, which then faded from her hands as well as she started thoroughly at the archer.

Mina was puzzled by Uraraka's reaction, but she was even more surprised at the words that had just escaped her mouth. Vague notions of that being true fluttered in her memory, but it was barely stable. She couldn't recall those times ever happening, mostly because they didn't happen. At least, not to her.

But then why had Uraraka reacted that way? She was speechless.

Uraraka took a step back, then another. She held her head on her hand, and Bakugou almost heard a curse escape her lips before a concerned frown appeared in her round features. "So… what Aizawa said was true, huh."

"What Aizawa said?" asked Kirishima and Mina at the same time while the former helped her get up. Bakugou stood a bit closer to the mage, his eyes squinted in suspicion.

Uraraka heard a very familiar growl come from a window, and then, a familiar creature landed on her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek lovingly. She didn't reciprocate the gesture, only scratched under his beak.

"Aizawa explained to me that… timelines are fragile. The more they are tampered with, repeated… the weaker they become, the more things get mixed." with Mina's call, things were starting to vaguely come back to her, and the puzzle was beginning to make sense. Notion was returning to her heart and memory like a sunflower blooming in a meadow.

Still, they didn't understand. In a way, it was better if they didn't, and even if she was doomed to be misunderstood, to be hated by her actions, it was better if only _she_ carried the cross. A hoarse voice interrupted her speech. "What do you even mean with that, Uraraka!?"

He drew out his sword, frowning at her with a disapproval that threatened to break her heart, yet didn't. She spoke once more, softer. "It means I'm running out of time. Words of love and tenderness won't save this world, you should know this!" a bright white seal appeared under her feet, giving off a blinding color that the warriors ignored, they stared at her even harder. "I am getting tired of this game! I'm getting tired of this, and I'm going to win this time!"

On her shoulder, Edgar cried out in approval, flapping its wings joyfully. Small pebbles of stone floated out of their restraints, Uraraka's hair floated once more with a small clap of wind, and Bakugou wasn't having this shit. "Whatever you are planning to do, we won't let you go through with it!"

Her hands were crossed before her. She could feel energy seeping into this circle, the center of the universe, the absolute core of all existence, right where she stood. Her magic was starting to absorb the energy of this planet as it died around her: the grass was turning gray, the trees were dying in their ice cages, the seas stopped rocking, the rain was beating down on this lifeless husk of a world as the light ran away from this place, leaving only mud and fog.

All energy was being focused in one place, one time. And the light kept on shining.

Uraraka looked up from her spell. "I don't think so. Only I shall remain here!" she nudged Edgar off her shoulder, and suddenly, her body started sparkling with unbound magic, spirals of uncontrollable power coming from the Earth and surrounding her as she called out a spell. "It's time I show you what a mage's worth!"

The sorcerer raised her hand up in the air and the surge of white hot magic struck up from the circle, knocking everyone to their backs as a blinding light covered the whole fortress, the battlefield, and then the whole region. A burning seal was imprinted in the stone and at this terrible surge of power coming from under her feet, Bakugou thought she would die.

But no. Of course she didn't die.

While the column of magic kept on giving, Uraraka sprinted out of it with her staff in hand, charging towards Kirishima, with a burning spear of magic that struck him on the shoulder, and then at a vertiginous speed kicked him on the stomach to send him flying through a falling wall.

Bakugou was only able to see her kicking him out of existence before her figure glitched through his vision and struck at Mina, this time deciding to send a surge of ice magic up from underneath the archer to kick her up in the air, break through the ceiling of the fortress only for Uraraka to fly up to meet her and give her a suplex kick so she would land on the ground again with a force that cracked the cobblestone.

The girl screamed out in pain and this made the leader finally react. Before Uraraka could dash behind him for the coup de grace, he reached for his giant sword to attempt to swipe her out of his surroundings, causing her to jump on his weapon while it sliced and try to strike from above this time.

The blonde leaped back, almost overwhelmed by her speed, and only stopped her when he made their weapons clash. Her staff had been switched with a dagger without him noticing. "Finally showing your true damn colors, huh!? I should have fucking known!"

She wished she could tell him his intentions had always been pure. Even now, they still were, to some extent. But why couldn't she find the words? Were they untrue? No. they weren't, right?

 _No, they are not!_ screamed the voice inside of her, wanting for this to end, but the more energy she drew from that circle, the weaker it became. In an attempt to draw even more energy to bend time to her liking, the sign on her hand beamed, and Bakugou noticed this.

He broke the clash to stab her hand and render it useless, but the moment he tried to do that, she jumped back and he immediately followed her with a explosion of his hands, growling, needing to get answers from her. He sliced the air with his weapon as she threw vines and ignited debris at him, which he cut with the sword of an expert swordsman.

A few feet away, Uraraka was panting, but she wiped the sweat off her cheek with a ferocity that very well reminded him of their first fight. If only they could go back to those times again.

"Uraraka, you gotta fucking stop! We can still save them if you help me– we can still save this!" he almost _begged_ with a desperate yet livid voice that only led him to more vicious moves that led them to crash weapons once more. He was becoming frantic, and that was because he was beginning to see the severity of the situation.

When they met again, her eyes were shadowed by her hat, which had tatters of blood and frost on it.

He looked closely. There were small traces of tears in her eyes.

 _Thats right. They are right. We can save this… I don't hate humankind, do I?_

He tried to kill her once more, like he always had. She leaped away, and he gave her chase, cutting through her attacks with the confidence of somebody who thought they could win, with the confidence of knowing they were doing the right thing.

 _These… these aren't my feelings._

They were _Ochako's_ feelings.

She had a small moment of hesitation, a silent gasp, a blink, a second of stillness in which air reached her lungs to conjure another spell. And that's when he struck.

With a dizzying dash towards her, Bakugou successfully stabbed right through her body on the lower side of her abdomen– a place where she had had a very ugly scar from when she woke up in the rain, a scar from a cursed weapon–

It was then when the last piece clicked into place, and in the moment of utter pain, Uraraka finally _understood_.

 _This hit. In this familiar place… it can only be…!_

Bakugou held the weapon there with a faltering grin, mustering all the courage he could to stop her, no matter his feelings, no matter the cost. "Hah, you fuckin surprised, dipshit?" the circle behind them vibrated, and her small engraving shone before a small trail of blood began to trial down his jaw. "Did you think I wouldn't fucking go through? Fucking stop already, Uraraka."

He expected her to finally give in to his power and accept defeat with this apparently mortal swipe, and he extracted his blade and swung it back to put an end t her life before feelings caught up with him– but something stopped him.

An iron fist stopped his blade with a trembling grip, and from below her hat, a fierce glare of challenge appeared as she clutched her abdomen in annoyance. "I don't think so."

She tightened her fist to the point the blade shattered, and with the momentum of his shock, she took advantage of his stillness to kick him on the ribs and send him to the ground, making him groan loudly in pain while she jumped back. Her figure was slightly hunched over as she looked at him, but as she stepped into the seal of light, she felt the pain grow numb.

"This is the end!" she screamed from the circle, and the light only grew in power as it consumed her and gave a few more pulses before it started fading. "I win!"

When the light cleared up, it gave view to a horribly pessimistic outlook. He looked up from the ground, sight blurry. His lover was hovering from the ground, rising only higher and higher as the building started to give in to the magic within it. Her cloak had become a long white dress with pink colors, her staff became pointy and what was wood was getting slowly dyed with white light.

Her hair was becoming white, her skin frail like porcelain. Her eyes fluttered open, blown wide and white like those of a mage that couldn't see anymore. The seal under her gave its last spurts of power as the fortress began to crumble down with loud noises deafened by his fading consciousness. Her frame brimmed with light as tears soaked her cheeks, for she was doing this for them.

The world was ending.

She would give them a shelter from the rain.

And then, Bakugou saw wings. Shining white wings sprouting out of her back like a majestic fairy. Her hair, the brightest of platinum, her hand open in his direction, eyes a clear as the full moon.

But, after all this time, it was still **her**.

Then, it all went black.

* * *

There was only black around her. The void to which she had plunged the world howled with the wind, giving it a sensation of wideness and solitude. There was no smell, no color, no noise. All that greeted her was the ungraspable infinity of solitude, the empty company of the people she had left behind.

"Why are you here?" echoed a voice from far, far away. "Why did you come back?"

The voice was met with silence from the sorcerer, who only stared forward into the black pitch. No words needed to be said. She had done what she had to, her mission had been completed. Then… why didn't she feel satisfied?

"Why did you come back to the world... you destroyed?" spoke this stranger, softly and unbelieving. The feeling of solitude only soared louder, threatening to take over her fake feeling of success, one that was fading away little by little. "There is nothing here for you."

Yet, she stared even further into the abyss, the wind only roaring around her and making her sick. She was afraid of even wondering where her people had gone– but here, they didn't exist, they never did– nothing ever existed. They had been long ago wiped out of existence, or maybe not even created.

She and the voice were the only ones standing in the whole universe, in this time, in this place. She had been tasked with cleaning the impurities in that world– and so, she did.

"There is nothing here for you to come back to." explained the voice, pitchy voice looming over her like a chiding parent. She could feel several eyes digging onto the back of her neck. "Wasn't this what you wanted?"

Once again, the voice was met with silence– yes, this was what she had wanted. All along, this had been her goal: healing the world from its unfixable wounds. Yet, despite her thoughts being anything but ill-intentioned... why had it ended up like this?

Was the future supposed to end up so bleak? Why did she feel… so sad, so lonely, and so, so _empty_?

"You got your wish, little one. You must now move on to another line – and never come back. You got what you wished for, didn't you?

No. The answer was a fat, straight rebuttal to her predicament. Moving to another timeline meant moving on to other possibilities, other options: in another time, Kirishima wouldn't welcome her in, Ashido wouldn't be there, Deku wouldn't guide her with Todoroki along the mazes. And Bakugou... her lips and heart twingled in delight.

It would be best for her to move on to a sane timeline. To just forget this nightmare ever existed. The adventure was over. There was nothing else left for her.

But her feet didn't move.

No matter how big that crowding fear was, or how the shake of her legs were menacing to pin her down against a hard decision in an unknown place, not a single fiber within her wavered. Instead, her feet tug on the ground, rebuilding her pride.

Her friend's weren't going to disappear while it depended on her. Even if they didn't know her next time. Even if they didn't exist anymore.

She won't move.

The silence in the area continued without a hitch. It was evident Uraraka had come back... but what for? She had destroyed that impure shelter of lies that the gods had built as her punishment… yet, she wanted it back? Why? It was impossible to understand.

"I... see." murmured the other, pondering casualties and the girl in that reality. "There must be something you have left behind... isn't that so?"

Before Uraraka could even do as much of a flinch, the voice retorted. "I don't understand why you are here, of all places. After all, this was the ending you wanted, wasn't it?"

The sorcerer couldn't find her voice. Yes, this was the ending she had thrived for– but not in this way. This wasn't how things were supposed to end. And there was no way to make it all fall into place without screwing it all up again.

"You did this yourself." there as a mean chuckle in the air. "Do you think you are above all absolute consequences?"

Of course she wasn't. And the voice knew this, too. There was this question lingering in the air, both knowing it could be asked but shouldn't be even mentioned. Not without making the same mistake again. The time continuum would only last for so long before it snapped and destroyed everything at its wake. The chances were running out.

The more they played this game, the frailer it became.

"There is nothing left for you here. There is nothing left for anyone here. Please, leave."

Still, she didn't budge. Uraraka would not move ever again. Even if it meant rotting there, reducing herself to bones and no skin, she'd prevail.

"Why are you so adamant on staying? This is what you wanted. This is what you fought for. This is what you are, now."

Wind whirled in the distance, making Uraraka feel all sorts of alone, miserable and guilty. It was slowly dawning on her that this loneliness, this guilt, this fate the gods had bestowed on her… perhaps the world she left behind hadn't been the punishment– but the remorse for destroying such fragile and small adventure. It was eating her alive.

Finally, it seemed like the deities above saw through her transparent silence.

"You... don't want to leave." stated the voice, matter-o'-factly. Air left her lungs as she felt herself being wrapped in darkness, sinking and drawing her in. Her reality was somehow distorted. "You want to fix this, again."

Yes, _again_.

"You always reach the same ending, no matter how hard you fight against it." moked the voice, completely aware of her steps that took the world to its demise. "Yet, you are still on the same boat, huh."

Of course she was. Fighting against this paradox had become her ethernal tombstone. The voice hovered over her in silence, waiting for her to make a move. Yet, her distorted feelings wouldn't let her string a vocal chord. This was not her place.

"Say," started it. "would you be willing to go back, to see and do everything you have left?" Uraraka's eyes shot up, darkness above her. "Perhaps you may find a way to make things right again."

Or you may not. The sentence was left unspoken, yet its meaning fully reached her. It didn't make her feel any less brave. Her will to live after this was more powerful than any paradox of any kind.

"Now, you will go back." spoke the voice with a soothingly calm trail of voice. "For the sake of another future– another ending, you will give me your past, your memories, and you'll go back."

This little part made her gulp, and her hands started quivering. However, she couldn't afford withdrawing when the lives of many were at stake. Her mouth remained shut, eyes determined to look up to the nonexisting sky.

The ghost of a smile graced her lips.

There would always be hope.

And where there was hope, there was life.

"So that's how it is."

* * *

Sounds of steps, spattering against the puddles marring the ground. The rain howled above the little girl who had found herself in the middle of a forest and was running for her dear life, fearing what thunderbolts and trees could do to her. Fire was a nasty thing to play with, above all in the darkness of such a rowdy night. Her brown, worn cloak was doing a poor attempt at protecting her from the foul water, only hindering her escape.

She had woken in the middle of the forest, mud caking her clothes and her staff almost forgotten meters beside her. Upon hearing the roar of rolling thunder, her feet had automatically started running towards the end of the forest, the lights of a village blaring against the bleak rainy weather. Grimacing, the sorcerer was on a race for her life, a sense of dread and danger hovering above her.

Maybe it was only the darkness making it seem like a hunter was after her– but she wouldn't be the brave one to stay and check. In her state, getting away from the mouth of fog, mud and darkness was the most logical answer.

So she ran. Faint memories prior to her wake started fleeting away with the sense of urgency to reach a point she didn't really know, but her instinct was carrying her straight towards the village barriers. The clinking of potions, scrolls and little other items in her bag sounded dim against the splash of her frantic steps, finding it hard to keep her ground against the slippery surface.

She ended up falling on the exit of the forest, the embers of the covered torches making her dirty skin shine. When all she had woken up to was a starry night full of water and mud, of course a source of light would come as a pleasant glimpse. Her hands met the creamy soil and propped her up, dainty feet carrying a dirty, wet, cloaked body all the way to the barrier.

In one way or another, she would make it to the barrier! She had to!

The only guard at the barrier immediately picked up the sound of her steps nearing the barrier, and deeming her to be suspicious enough to be interrogated; she was halted just before entering the village. "Hold on, woman! Show yourself– or else!"

His shiny, silver sword was drawn at her, but no fear crossed her roundy features. Rain clattered against the shiny blade, making it all drearier for her. Her shaking hand was replete of scars and cuts, feebly rising to reveal her face. She pulled the hem of the hood back a bit, enough for the lights to illuminate her pinky cheeks and chocolate irises. Despite her childish appearance, her expression was everything but naïve. A grim hint dropped of her shadowed eyes, splattered with pain.

Her breath hitched inside her throat, feeling weighed down by the heavy downpour. "I am a sorcerer, fellow soldier."

This time though, she took a small, deep and laboured breath.

"I am seeking refuge for the storm – and please do trust me, I mean no harm to this village!"

* * *

 **[A/N]:** The plot is as it follows: Ochako's time is the let's say original timeline. In there, her parents are killed in order to get her power as a weapon of defense for both villages, but the alien party takes her and it makes rivalry for her bloom. When Ochako discovers this, she flees and goes to the opposite power and springs a war to lure everyone in and make them pay. She destroys the timeline and the gods, the devas above, punish her and make her live the same nightmare over and over.

That's where Uraraka comes in. She wakes up in the rain and goes to the guild, and the story flows as we have seen, with glimpses of the original timelines that become more vivid as time passes. The more time that passes, the more timelines lapse and merge, and the more dangerous it is to be there. Uraraka is prompted by her hate feelings to leave but that's basically her Ochako side speaking. In reality, by killing them, she will also spare them in the sense they wont see and suffer the natural destruction of the timeline. In the end, either the timeline or Uraraka would kill them. And for Uraraka, killing them, is in a both-sided way, giving in to her feelings in a catharsis and also saving them from being torn apart by the destruction of the timeline,

In that battle, Bakugou stabs her side. This links to her waking up wounded when the timeline (and the story)mrestarts, and it begins again. The story was always meant to be a loop.

So yeah.

It's not the ending of the story yet because I think it's pretty unsatisfying to leave it like this, so we'll see each other. But know that this, as it is, would be the original ending as how it was given birth. /rolls away singing purple rain


	12. Traitor of a Nation, Savior of a Planet

**[A/N]:** I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took! As you can see this chapter was especially long and I wanted to make it perfect. I know the beginning will be a bit slow but I hope you guys like it regardless! Join me for the last ride, and please enjoy!

* * *

"This is the end!" she screamed from the circle, and the light only grew in power as it consumed her and gave a few more pulses before it started fading. "I win!"

When the light cleared up, it gave view to a horribly pessimistic outlook. He looked up from the ground, sight blurry. His lover was hovering from the ground, rising only higher and higher as the building started to give in to the magic within it. Her cloak had become a long white dress with pink colors, her staff became pointy and what was wood was getting slowly dyed with white light.

Her hair was becoming white, her skin frail like porcelain. Her eyes fluttered open, blown wide and white like those of a mage that couldn't see anymore. The seal under her gave its last spurts of power as the fortress began to crumble down with loud noises deafened by his fading consciousness. Her frame brimmed with light as tears soaked her cheeks, for she was doing this for them.

The world was ending.

She would give them a shelter from the rain.

And then, Bakugou saw wings. Shining white wings sprouting out of her back like a majestic fairy. Her hair, the brightest of platinum, her hand open in his direction, eyes a clear as the full moon.

But, after all this time, it was still **her**.

Then, it all went black.

* * *

As she had been told over and over again, humankind was keen on repeating their mistakes. It had been an endless circle of despair and misfortune everywhere she walked, everywhere she touched, and every timeline she destroyed. No matter how many lands she obliterated, no matter the amount of lives she took, no matter the tears she shed– her thirst for revenge wasn't quenched.

In fact, it felt like she had never moved from the starting line. Maybe, it was because she never had.

Her pain hadn't subsided. In a corner of her heart, a lonely mage wept for the pain to stop. No matter what her body gave, she knew that this madness and time-travelling, the godly art of destroying and remaking over and over again… things were only becoming more and more strained, more and more enmeshed. Things would only go downhill if luck was pressed too hard.

In the darkness, tears were shed, but on the outside, cries of anger and tears of loneliness were the only thing to be seen. Her body was punishment-proof, and her heart was like that of a stallion, relentless and seeking the secret, concealed revenge that had been preset in her brain. The revenge, the anger. Uraraka wasn't angry.

But Ochako was. Ochako, if anything, _had_ been angry. And a part of her, now in the darkness again, wondered how many times it had been Ochako and her had been rebirthed for this chaotic mess to continue. She wondered how long it'd take for the world to finally break and for any realm to cease existing.

Things were becoming more fragile. All Uraraka could wonder was how long she'd have to go through this. Ochako was a beast she didn't want in her life. Uraraka had been the reincarnation of a mistake this lonely and sad mage did. Uraraka was Ochako, but Ochako was not Uraraka.

And yet, she was being pushed to the same corner over and over again, no matter how far things were being taken. Timelines were being restored as that cage kept Uraraka tortured, but now that she found herself at the end of that dark pitch, of that dark cell, she couldn't help but wonder how long it had been happening.

Maybe her brain wasn't aware of her memories being rewashed and her body being spawn at the beginning of the story, but the more this happened, the more her heart knew this was wrong.

This time, unlike the prior clonic endings – the clonic destruction, the clonic rebirth, endless times – she was welcomed by a pregnant silence. She looked up, and again, found no faces, no air, just a breeze that licked at her body like a demon did to a baby's candy.

She hated this.

And it seemed like the gods above her were realizing that things were starting to get seriously dangerous. Perhaps in the past a pair of rewashes and reconstructions of the same timeline were harmless, but the more they redid and rekilled, the weaker it became, and the more people _felt_ and cried for this.

The world was beginning to know what was going on. Their hearts were feeling the dread. And at the center of it all stood Uraraka, now waiting for a new answer and for a new (yet expectedly old) direction.

Something else welcomed her.

"Uraraka. Or Ochako. It doesn't seem to matter anymore, does it?" a voice echoed in the endless dark chamber. It was almost as if she was suspended in the sea, underwater, and the voice was bouncing in her brain.

She shifted her feet a bit, and she was sure that she could feel ground under her feet, in her drowsy perception. Perhaps she would be able to feel the cracks in this ending if she had been conscious enough.

"It's been so long, and you still won't learn, will you? How many times has it been since you first stepped in? How long has it really been, Uraraka?"

It could have been years of the same story being retold over and over. Honestly, whatever she had lived seemed to matter not, for she knew it was but a lie. Everything around her was a lie, and all she wanted was to feel, see, hear, taste and touch the reality of everything.

But she was locked in this madness. And no matter how many times she was manipulated, no mercy would come from heaven.

Silence wrapped around her.

One beat, two beats, and a small shift. Uraraka heard another voice.

"It doesn't seem like you're helping us. No matter how many chances we give you to redeem yourself, you are hellbent on destroying our work like a child throwing a fit. You're no more than a little child."

Uraraka looked down, because she was at a loss of what to say. Was this really all her fault? Would this cycle have continued if her misplaced feelings hadn't been fueled, but stopped? It wasn't fair, being blamed for this sin on her own.

Nothing was fair. Her fingers curled into fists, and this once, her throat constricted as she shoved the words up her throat.

And after so long, she spoke.

"This is not only my doing! Your own devil spawns have been there to make sure I follow the same path over and over to please you!" she looked at a side, her eyes hooded with both resent and anger. "They deserved it. They deserved all pain I could grant, but in the end I did save them!"

"If the ending of the story is everyone dying, does it truly matter who brought that fate upon them?" at that, she had no words, and remained silent as she processed that fact. At the end of the day, it truly didn't matter.

The only thing that mattered was that she had destroyed the timeline, and brought death to her comrades. Her intentions didn't seem to matter, but the function she was carrying in the story did.

And she was tired of that being shred to pieces and rewashed to a new white. She deserved a fairer chance. "It's the fate" she pointed at the pitch black sky " _you_ guys put on my shoulders! If you wanted me to sort this out, maybe you shouldn't have removed my memories over and over again, or guided me towards a dark path!"

How did she know this? Was the endless repetition finally rubbing and craving itself in her mind?

"You're the one who chose to do this!"

"By your own manipulation!" she bellowed to the heavens, to hell, or to whoever or whatever was watching her. Her fists trembled on her sides, and she screwed her eyes shut. "The timelines becoming weak is your own doing! You're the ones who went insane and decided I should just walk the same path over and over. I might be to blame for what I did in the past, but how the hell am I supposed to get out of that cycle if nobody will let me be free?"

Her words echoed in the chamber, bounced within the infinite constraints of that nightmare. This time, nobody dared answer, for she was absolutely right. And she was certain she was right this time.

Uraraka clutched the chest of her torn uniform, and a small tear fell down her face. "I gave them a shelter to live on again. I saved them from the pain of being pulled apart particle by particle. By destroying that place, I created another one, didn't I? The same time, the same actions, the same mistakes."

Give her freedom, was what she was asking for.

 _Give me another chance_ , her heart cried. She sunk to her knees, shaking in desperation. She knew this was her only and last chance to make things right. If the gods above wouldn't let her be free but the times would repeat themselves again, perhaps she could make it work somehow, no matter the pain she brought along.

A small droplet fell on the space, and it echoed like glass in her ears. It felt different than before.

"The rain is long gone now." spoke a deep voice, making her look up. She didn't see a thing, but she _knew_ mercy was at her reach. "We have already dragged the punishment process for long enough. Now it's time for your redemption. Are you ready for that, though?"

Her eyes widened, and she got up again with almost a jump. However, her stance held no enthusiasm, but defiance and bravery she had long lost. "I don't care what I have to do. I will do anything to save everyone for good this time, no matter the cost."

There was no dent to her voice. There was no running away anymore.

"Very well, then." a small part of her held hope for the slightly softer tone. It sounded like a father looking down at his daughter, but not _on_ her anymore. "We will grant you a different path, a different time, and another story. What you will do with it is in your hands, now. You won't be given another chance. This is your last chance to make things right."

Uraraka nodded with a firm frown, as if telling the heavens to throw anything at her– she'd accept and chuck it back to where it belonged.

"I will make things right again… but how? How am I supposed to get out of that path you have marked for me?"

A low hum was heard in the chamber. "You will figure it out the moment you land in your world again. I'm sure that seeing the story from another perspective will give you the right push."

The right push? Hell, why couldn't they just tell her how to do things instead of being so vague? It irked her greatly, yet she guessed they couldn't tell her how to do things so easily. She would have to figure out her way to atonement, and she didn't care what happened. She wasn't going to run away anymore.

She would make the rain stop forever.

"Now, you shall go back to your planet, where this cycle began. While you can't undo the mistakes Ochako did, perhaps you can redeem them for good." there was a slight sizzling in her ears, and while she could hear several voices at earshot, she wasn't sure who or _what_ they were. She cupped her cheek and touched her ear with a small grimace.

Uraraka, despite sensing the danger, nodded at this, accepting whatever risk she was to be exposed at, and the sizzling started to fade away to a small distant echo.

"Take good care of yourself, Uraraka." then, she felt slightly dizzy, a familiar warmth welcomed her as her hands started to feel wet and slick, a humid minty scent invading her nostrils. "Let's see what you do, this time."

In a snap moment, everything disappeared, and the warmth and security of the silent chamber was replaced by the cold downpour on her frame.

She fluttered her eyes open. When she woke up, she was lying in the middle of the rain.

Instead of getting up with urgency like she would have in the past, she cupped her forehead for recollection, and that was when she realized a very key element that had been granted to her. It almost felt like a blessing to realize that, suddenly, she remembered _everything_.

Uraraka remembered absolutely _everything_.

She looked forward and saw the familiar streetlamps. She knew the fate that would fall upon her and the world around her if she were to take the same starting line as she did in the past.

So, Uraraka didn't.

Grimacing, she looked at the gushing wound on her side, and with fierce decision, she brought her sleeve to her teeth and tore the fabric apart to create a makeshift bandage. Her fingers felt cold from the rain, but she could feel the wetness of blood soaking her ribs. Panting, the pushed the fabric against she cut, and tried to get up.

She didn't need anybody to cure her, or comrades to help her find the path home. Instead, she pushed herself to her feet and turned around. Without a single thought more, she started to run in the opposite direction. Her boots splashed with water and she panted at the discomfort of her wound, but her oath to save this decaying world didn't let her falter.

The only thing that stopped her mindless meandering was a deep, raspy voice from a man under a big withering sapling with darkened leaves. "Where are you going so quickly, fairy? Don't you know it's bad for kids to roam around these parts?"

Uraraka's breath hitched, and in the dark of the night, her eyes and Aizawa's met like magnets. She didn't know if she should be relieved or scared, but his presence somehow made her believe that she was making the right decisions already. For the confidence he brought in her, she smiled shakily.

"What… what are you doing here? It's so cold tonight."

"You're saying it as if I hadn't been here the whole time, or I hadn't been watching, or the temperature had been any warmer in past times." so, as she had deducted and assumed, Aizawa was a part of all this mess. "Where did you want to go, even? You just got up and you wanna go for a jog?"

"You must be here for a reason, right? I'm sure my heart was seeking you, and it seems I found you rather quickly."

Aizawa chuckled and uncrossed his arms. "Can't blame you for the aimlessness, but you must get that nasty wound cured. You have always been too reckless with your body, throwing yourself around like that."

The mage blinked some rain off her lashes, and cocked her head as she saw him turn around and start walking away. She didn't know if she should believe him– was he a trap from the heavens for her to fall into? What was he doing there?

"Follow me." his head turned a little, not quite facing her. "I know what you can do, and unlike those up there, I know the good your heart holds. I'm on your side this time."

* * *

Uraraka quietly nibbled on her small piece of bread, clutching it like a hungry rabbit with a carrot. A step away from her, Aizawa walked forward through the small market. Her steps were barely hearable through the crowd, and she could barely hear the man as he talked in a hush.

His head was uncharacteristically low, looking at the ground in thought rather than endless sea of people. The sky was clear and sun beamed from above. Uraraka's eyes were hooded by her hat.

"Are you aware of the sticky situation you are in, fairy? I shouldn't even be here." Aizawa spoke in a grumble. This change of tone, which had been a bit softer than usual until now, made the girl look up to see his eyes turned to hers lightly from over his shoulder.

She stared at him blankly. She was aware of where she was, who she was, and the people she had met, but she was still clueless to what she was supposed to do right now. Aizawa had been hope for her, but right now he looked like an eternal interrogant that would never grant answers to her.

If she focused enough, Aizawa was no more than a blur in a sea of white noise and hollow voices. Uraraka bit a bit more into her soft and warm bread, staring at him. Only now did she notice they had stopped walking.

Aizawa considered her silence to be telling enough. "I suppose you don't. I can't give you all answers, and you must know that. I'm no more than a commissary in this sick game."

A commissary, a messenger. It made a lot of sense to think of him that way, although it was ironic that the man who had spoken so highly and vaguely was just as much of a pawn like her. At least she wasn't as disposable as he could be, and while she wanted to feel superior, Uraraka was too humble to see him as anything else than a peer.

No longer a master. But a peer.

The girl glanced at the surroundings of this familiar market. The buildings around her were of a blueish gray, stone covering the ground and merchants shouting around her for offers and many foods that smelled like home and joy. She had no time for that, and neither did the man she was walking with.

What was interesting for her was when she caught the smell of lavender and a blur of purple, porcelain and black brush past her. The warmth and the smell, the colors, made her turn around sharply with a hitched breath that got stuck in her throat when she realized who it was.

Her eyes landed on a familiar purple haired man talking to the black-haired hunter.

That whip of hers was still on her hip, and her gentle, polite smile was undoubtedly fake and out of a want to be civile, but after all she had been through, Uraraka felt _overjoyed_ to see her. A surge of feelings, frustration and boundless relief to see she was actually alive burst within her. No matter the nature of this world, she never thought she'd see her again, and all she wanted to do was rush to her and hug her close, cry tears of relief as they started to prickle in her eyes.

However, a stern hand landed on her shoulder the moment she took a step in her direction. "Are you sure you want to?"

His cautious voice made her stiffen, and remember. She wasn't here to make friends anymore, or allies for that matter. The context of this world and her destiny, the curse embedded to her heart– she couldn't afford making friends. She had to find a path of her own.

That'd be the first of many pangs of pain that would stab her heart.

Uraraka gave Jack a last melancholic glance. "You're right." her shoulders sunk and she turned to him again, walking by his side with her head an inch lower than before. "Let's get going."

Far away from them, Jack turned in Uraraka's direction. All she saw was a sea of unknown people, and when Shinsou asked what was wrong with her, her voice came out low. "Didn't you feel weird just a sec ago? Like… a very heavy vibe in the air. Or a stare."

Shinsou deadpanned, not understanding. "Must be in your mind. I haven't seen anyone I know around here yet."

Nobody worth remembering, at least.

* * *

"So, I'm supposed to change their mind, am I?"

Uraraka had stopped walking to stare at the ground, at the dark muddy grass at their feet. Her comrade looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Uraraka pursed her lips, eyes squinted as she thought about this hard and through before speaking her mind. "I mean, I'm supposed to be going through some sort of atonement process, am I? But I haven't done anything other than meandering around like a lost fox."

"You say it as if you hadn't done anything at all."

"But I haven't." she began to walk once more, this time a step ahead of Aizawa. He didn't fall into step with her. Instead, he observed her ramble, exactly what he wanted her to do. "I haven't gotten any sign as to what to do, either. Am I supposed to get a letter falling from the sky? Am I supposed to… I don't know, meet a high monk or a priest?"

A second later, trees started giving way to a warm light that came from a nearby village. He heard the distant laughter of children and the cackling of fire, which Uraraka seemed to be unaware of. Had she heard this, she would definitely know where she was. He knew things had happened in this small village and she was too considerate to forget this place.

The man walked a tad faster. "You will figure things out when the time comes. You have more important things to do rather than planning meetings and all that crap."

Finally, Uraraka reached the end of the forest. Her feet stopped themselves to take in her surroundings– she old houses, the kids running around the fire on a slate of stone, merchant camps and a very familiar wooden residence in the distance. She didn't seem to realize where they were until she took her fist to her heart and shrunk lightly.

She didn't like this place. And that was what he wanted from her.

The man came from behind her. "I have stuff to do, so stay here. I need you to stay here. I'll be back soon."

At that low murmur Uraraka turned around with a light frown. "What do you mean stuff to do? Am I supposed to trust you again?"

"Do you have anybody else you can trust? I'll be back soon, and I already told you I'm on your side this time."

Uraraka, for very obvious reasons, was hesitant to trust this man again. Last time she entrusted her mind to him, he made her a toy for his bosses above. Was she supposed to let him shackle her to a dark destiny once more?

However, she now realized that this time around, she had the aces of her memories with her. If she didn't want to be manipulated, perhaps all she had to do was simply not let him do so. After all, if she was encouraging herself to not make friends or allies, Aizawa himself could be stuffed in that sack.

He had been using her all along. It was time she turned the tables. The girl nodded curtly at him, letting a small hum slip out her mouth. The man nodded back, and adjusting his scarf to his neck, he started walking away from her, leaving her alone.

Her plan of not making any allies or friends now backfired on her drastically. With a hand to her forearm, she glanced around almost shyly, losing all the confidence she had been gathering all along. Her boots remained still, and her expression turned almost grim. What should she do, now? It felt like Aizawa had very kindly guided her to the actual starting line, and that her new journey began now.

 _You'll figure things out when the time comes._

She sighed. If there was something she could trust, was that sole phrase. So, very hesitantly, she did. Uraraka slowly let her feet walk her to the bonfire, where children were running around. Her steps were like those of a ghost, barely scraping the loose dirt. Her face was concealed by the pink hood of her uniform.

A crisp breeze blew between her legs and arms. She needed to get a coat of some sorts. She knew a river flowed near this village, and they were close to the north. The weather was anything but warm.

"Hey, you there!" her eyes, which had been glued to the fire, shifted to one of the kids. "What are you doing, standing there? You'll get cold!"

Uraraka blinked at this, but nodded regardless. Unused to such impulsive kindness, the girl didn't really know what to expect when she walked a bit closer to the children, and as she grew closer, the kids started gathering to welcome her.

However, a close look into the children's eyes made it clear they weren't there to give her hugs. Their eyes were fixated on her hat and dress, with a glint of childish wonder and awe that she had never seen. Uraraka was painfully used to people pointing at her in horror, a kind like her known for being capable of atrocities and despair.

She had _never_ been marvelled as a being capable of good. Nothing like these kids were doing.

The little guys were rather short, so Uraraka crouched as to not intimidate them. "Hey there, you have a good fire going on here!"

Her voice sounded enthusiastic, as if she was genuinely happy. One of the four children nodded and grinned at her. "I made the fire! Pretty nifty, huh?"

One of the others elbowed him. "You're saying it as if you did it on your own, bragger!"

"Aw, c'mon! I just wanted to let the lady know!"

As they bickered, the brunette giggled. The scenario was a bit familiar. She was trying to not let feelings catch her, but the sheer familiarity warmed her heart up. "And what is the fire for? There isn't many people around here right now! You could be at home."

One of the kids, with a slight tan and black hair, beamed at her and pointed at himself, then at the rest. "It's part of a ceremony! The adults are somewhere else celebrating, but it's a part of a festivity we have here. We light up the fires at the start of the festival as a beginning of a new season!"

Uraraka cocked her head, curious. The fire didn't seem to be anything special. "What for, though? What's the meaning behind that?"

One of the girls smiled at her too as if this was the funniest thing ever. She had similar traits to the other kid. "These fires burn all year! We blow them off a bit before the beginning of the new season and we eat and dance before we celebrate another beginning, and start another fire! It's a festival!"

The word _festival_ had been mentioned a fair number of times and Uraraka finally made time connections between the place she was in and this festival happening. When she had first arrived to this village with the guild, the festival was happening. In fact, Bakugou didn't attend the festivities because of her.

She frowned lightly, but not because of the memory – after all, he had grown from that moment on and rather than regretting it, she treasured the memory – but because that meant her past friends would arrive to this place soon and she still had no plan as to what she'd do. Or if Aizawa would pick her up and leave before they came.

Uraraka frowned. The kids interpreted it as just her being thoughtful and interested. "How long does this last?"

"A week." said the same girl. "You should stay and come to the parties! The food is super yummy too!"

The mage appreciated some good food, but she couldn't afford those distractions. Aizawa had insisted she took it easy but how was she supposed to? She shook her head. "I'm a very busy girl, you see. I can't stay for very long."

"Ooh, are you like…" one of the children's eyes gleamed like a gem under the sunlight. "are you like one of those government witches? Are you hunting monsters!?"

In a way, she was. But not in the way _he_ thought she was. Still, she grinned, because she didn't want to break a kid's fantasy. "Yeah! I'm like a secret agent looking for drooling and gross monsters!"

Them all 'ooh'ed and gasped in surprise. She was such an awesome girl already! The little girl from earlier clapped her hands together and gave her an angelic smile. "Could you show us some magic, miss? Pretty please? I have always wanted to see a sorcerer in action!"

They were too cute for her to say no. She took a hand out, spread it, and her hand started to burn until a small, gentle fire was issuing from them. Her temperature was dipping at this stunt, but their shock and joy at the cool trick was worth any cold. "Woah! That's so pretty!"

Uraraka smiled and nodded, thanking them. "Doesn't it hurt, miss? Don't your hands burn?"

That was complicated science, but there was a quick answer to that. "Not at all! It's very warm, but I have trained very much for this!" she turned her palm, and the fires melted into water that dripped down her hand, and the kids squealed even harder.

Uraraka couldn't control water around her, create waves around her body or make them calm, but she could control her _own_ body better than anybody else. "Miss, miss! Can you do it to my body? Can you turn me into water?"

The friends frowned at the boy, and before they could scold him, Uraraka shook her head. "I'm not that dextrous. Besides, it could be dangerous!" the brunette got up and ruffled the boy's hair, making him groan as he was rejected. "You have a fine body of your own, no need to risk it."

Uraraka giggled as they swarmed around her for a bit more, but the fun was about to be over. A few voices called from buildings away, and the children didn't hesitate to grin and follow the voices. Uraraka smiled at their eagerness to rejoin the celebrations. One of the girls turned as she ran and put her hands around her tiny mouth. "Please miss, come by soon! We wanna see you again!"

The girl's breath hitched. It had been so long since she had been told that. If ever, actually. With a sweet smile, Uraraka waved as the little girl smiled and bid her farewell. The warmth that settled in her heart was… nice, comfortable, unlike anything she had ever felt in this world.

Her eyes shifted to the fires again now that she was alone, covering her orbs in a golden halo. The girl lifted her hand slowly to hover over the fires, and when they grew closer to her hand, she abruptly raised it and removed it to let the fires escalate and soar like a dragon surging from the pits of hell.

However, she tamed it in no time, and when the fires started shrinking again, they slowly changed to a white pure color. She clasped her hands together, as if in a prayer. "I hope your fires don't die anytime soon, kids. They shouldn't, anymore."

After this small plea, Uraraka smiled to herself and walked away from the warmth of the fire, the cackling of the flames making her step bounce a little. The girl hadn't planned this, but she ended up padding to the residence she had once slept in, in the past. Her hand touched the doors, then the doorknob.

Her breath got stuck in her throat as a whirlwind of memories surged from deep within her, yet she wouldn't let this make her falter. She needed a place to stay, after all.

Shaking her head, she twisted the doorknob and stepped in, not before glancing back at the fires and seeing kids come back to it, squealing at the new fancy color. She smiled to herself, and disappeared behind the doors.

That bonfire wouldn't die for centuries to come.

* * *

Uraraka spent god knows how long in her room, secluded from the rest of the world. The blankets had been familiar against her skin, and the glass windows had been more than a memento of the memories she had shared in this place. It wasn't a nightmare or a dream; rather, it was a white-washed sense of nostalgia that chased her like a shadow everywhere she went.

So she stayed in, day after day, waiting for Aizawa to come by. Or maybe, somebody else would fall from the heavens and tell her what to do. No matter what Aizawa told her about taking it easy, this mission as far too important to rest easy. She felt like she had done absolutely nothing.

Her bed was surrounded with open books of different ages, sprawled over her bed as she consumed their letters hastily. The sentences became enmeshed at some points, and the drawings far too confusing, and she doubted she was learning anything from this– but at least she had the feeling she was doing something.

In the dead of the night she sat, criss-crossed on the bed with a focused glare on one of the books. She slowly turned the pages to not tear them off, the books were old and delicate. The small rustling noise filled the room.

Suddenly, she heard steps in her hallway, out from her room. The girl was surprised by this, and slowly got up from the bed to tiptoe between piles of books and eavesdrop. From what she had gathered, nobody came this late into the night. It could either be Aizawa or somebody of equal interest for her.

Her fingers hovered over the knob, ready to get out in case of danger, almost by instinct. Then, came a familiar voice.

"You dumbass, I told you to not fucking do that!" the gruffy voice was so close her heart stopped in its tracks. They were right behind the doors, slowly making their way by the rooms. "Now we have frog girl in a fucking bed because you sent her against that monster!"

It was Bakugou _._

 _It was Bakugou_.

"I told you that it was my mission to ensure we defeated Pyrox! Asui assured she could take it, how am I supposed to read her thoughts?" and that was actually Midoriya, talking back to the fearsome leader she expected to be baring his teeth at him. The notion didn't make her smile. "She will be okay in no time. It's been a long way here."

Bakugou growled at him with a frown. "Just don't fucking play chess with our members, goddammit. We need them for our next mission. Rumor has it there's a legendary monster sleeping under the canyon's river, and we need everyone strong and healthy in case that shithead appears."

Uraraka turned from the door to rest her back on the wooden surface, torn on what to do. They were _there_. Her guild was there, they had arrived not to her, but it somehow felt like it. She wanted to step out and say hi, maybe cry and apologize over and over for what she had done to them, to their trust, to their faith.

The girl sank to the floor, her back sliding down and her shoulders hunching over.

But they don't remember her. They don't know who she is.

Her shoulders shook, and her expression shrunk into one of pain. Hearing the familiar two bickering brought an immense feeling of despair storming through her, because no matter how much she wanted to avoid it, the truth was that she missed their company.

Enshrouded in darkness within her room, the little mage wept in silence.

This would be harder than she thought.

* * *

From then on, Uraraka spent her next days thinking about her next steps, and very secondarily waiting for Aizawa to come at her rescue.

She spent her days, once more, sitting on her bed and planning her steps carefully. She would sneak out late into the night for some meat and bread in the festive markets, and then fly back into her room without being seen. She was aware that her status regarding the guild was horribly delicate and that any contact could make the story get too complicated.

Her mission was to plan how to get out of that town without being seen, which seemed to be something this place was hellbent on forcing.

She had _almost_ stumbled with them a few times, actually, and these brushes with danger where what forced her into self-captivity. Once, she had been headed to the quaint library in that place for maps and references. She was eating an apple, cheerfully dedicated to her own thoughts and hopeful that things would end up in her favor.

However, a second before she reached the end of the street, Uraraka heard a collection of voices that made her spring back into the shadows of the street, a few apples rolling to the ground.

She blended with the building while Midoriya, Todoroki and Kirishima walked right by the ending of the avenue. "Yo, is Asui doing better?

That was Kirishima's voice. Uraraka frowned as they stopped in front of a market of medical goods a few metres away from her. She tried to push harder against the wall as if it could swallow her, but it didn't, obviously. Her nails dug into the surface, for she wanted to run, but needed to hear about her fellow alchemist.

"She has a fever. She was pushed by her own tides, after all. I had never seen her blend with her magic so perfectly." Midoriya picked up a small bag with a black ribbon, and Todoroki nodded and continued speaking. "I sometimes forget she's a very powerful water magician."

The leader chuckled. "Totally, but she's very strong. She'll be fine in no time."

There was a small silence. They weren't doing anything, nor was Uraraka running away, tense.

Kirishima sighed. "You don't seem very convinced."

The other two snapped their heads to the hunter. "What do you mean? I have full trust in her."

"That's not what I mean." she saw the redhead rub his scalp. "I know you're worried sick about her. You spent the night treating her. I still don't know why you sent her with us."

Midoriya almost pouted at him but Todoroki intervened. "He's right, you know." the leader mouthed the knight's name in disbelief. "I also think Asui is super strong, but she only hindered our walk here. Why did you insist to much?"

The other knight blinked at them without answering, then looked back to the medical goods. His brow sunk progressively until he sighed before his two friends, who waited and waited until he couldn't take their eyes' pressure anymore.

"She was muttering things in her sleep about wanting to come. She said she wanted to meet somebody in the province."

Uraraka's eyes widened a notch at this.

"Someone? I never knew Asui had a friend out of the village." then, the redhead smirked, mischief in his features and elbowing his leader. "Or a _boyfriend_."

Unlike the girl had expected, Midoriya didn't seem appalled by the possibility. However, he was quick to deny that scenario. "No… she said it was a friend. A girl she wanted to say sorry to." his voice seemed to grow sadder. "She was mumbling things about a monster and a sorcerer, and being very cold. All of that, over and over, like a lament."

Uraraka's eyes widened in horror, her hands grasping the basket of goods tighter.

Of course, this timeline was delicate. And of _course_ Asui wouldn't be left off unscathed. Those up above her had to put that tiny wrinkle to the mix to make things tougher for her. It was a bit self-absorbed to believe Asui was specifically talking about her, but it couldn't be helped considering this new time was almost like a gift to Uraraka.

Her eyes flashed to them one last time before running away, fruits falling off her basket in her haste.

She hadn't left the room for leisure ever since then, scared of encountering another conversation like this, one she wasn't meant to hear. Or worse, maybe she was.

Uraraka sat on her bed, more and more books piling in every imaginable surface as she scanned through each and every index, looking for any catchy title. She was impulsively buying any book with a familiar cover title and taking them to her room, then discarding most of them as they ended up having little to no value at all.

She had never been a bookworm or really enjoyed reading, but this was a mission of extreme importance.

And while she scanned, filtered, threw books away and sighed, she would hear the constant chatter behind the wall right under her back. It had been awfully coincidental for them to end up right by her room, and she couldn't help but blame the gods above her for this punishment.

The temptation to help them out was almost unreal, yet she didn't waver, and needed to stay away.

 _You can help out._

No, she couldn't.

 _You can! You don't need to tell them you are but…_

That would mean involvement anyway, and she didn't need to reinforce the bonds she was trying to ignore. Once she left, they would be out of sight and out of mind.

And that was the status she was striving for.

 _Will you really feel good about leaving a dear guildmate in the dark? C'mon, she needs your help! Do you think any of them other than Asui know medicine?_

… Not really.

Well, maybe Yaoyorozu did, but her knowledge on the matter was rather superficial. So indeed, the only people who could cure Asui were Asui herself or Uraraka. The problem was, Uraraka couldn't go.

She looked out the window, which she had opened a bit ago to let some air in. Living there like a hermit made the air in there become a bit heavy, and the moonlight was gorgeous tonight. It was pretty late, and she should be sleeping. The hopes of somebody coming to take her out of that place and to another was the only thing encouraging to go to bed.

Tonight, not even that worked. Not when she knew Asui was in pain. She sighed and got up from the bed, which groaned in protest at her leaving. The mage took a deep breath and dodged piles of books to stand before the seemingly gigantic door. Sigh after sigh, she twisted the golden knob and pushed the door open.

She didn't want to regret this as she did it, so she jumped out of the room, grabbed the key and closed it softly behind her. Asui's door was closed shut, her peers long gone. The corridor felt cold and looked dark, making this look like a terrifying act she would someday regret.

But how could she ever regret healing her? What sort of human being would she be if she left her out? All she had to do was not be detected, which was easy considering the hour and the darkness around her.

Uraraka positioned herself before the door and pushed her hand against the lock, letting her skin morph into iron as it sneaked through the enginery inside the door. She grimaced, but then, a small click was heard and the door fell open silently, giving sight to the moonlight washed room.

Uraraka couldn't bring herself to look up and watch her dear alchemist sleep until minutes later, when a breeze of midnight air made her strands dance along her cherubic cheeks. The mage's lips were parted and her eyes twinkled against the moonlight that filtered through the curtains. A silly tear threatened to spill but the girl held it in place.

She wanted to hug that silly alchemist so badly, thank her for everything and apologize for what she had once done, something nobody but her remembered. Something that where she was, had never happened. The girl patted her cheeks with a small hum and walked the path to her bed, slowing down as she reached the bed, and kneeled down before it.

The mage took Asui's hand. It was cold, but had a beat under the wrist. She wasn't in danger, yet Uraraka wanted to help. If she was to ever implicate herself with this crew, she would do it like this.

The girl enveloped her cold hand with her warm ones, closed her eyes, and murmured those little spells this very own alchemist had once taught her. A soft light emerged from their union, and Uraraka could feel her energy softly blending with Asui's– tangling, meeting, and mixing. It was slow enough for Uraraka not to be noticed yet intense enough for Asui to sleep better.

The sleeping girl was murmuring things under her breath.

"Cold… too cold…" mumbled the girl. Uraraka took a brave peek at her expression and found it to be washed in anguish, something that made her screw her eyes shut and bite her lip as she staggeringly continued her thread of spells. "Don't… we were… friends. You promised…"

Uraraka closed her eyes even further and gripped Asui's hand with a force that screamed regret, remorse, and immense pain at the prospect of never making all of this up to her personally. All she would have to do was go through an atonement path she didn't even feel she had begun.

It was so unfair. And worst of it all, she had brought it on herself.

"I'm sorry…" it was Uraraka who muttered this between spells, her healing getting erratic and pulsating. Her energy was growing more rebellious in Asui's body. "Forgive me…"

But it was useless. Soon enough, the girl's small mumbling died down. The cura sunk into her body and replenished her energies, closed her wounds and freed her from her current nightmares, ones Uraraka had created and were now plaguing the mind of an innocent girl.

The mage got on her feet and her fingers traced a small scar on the alchemist's forehead. "I will make things right. No matter what…" her voice was barely a whisper, and with a small tap, a brief light sparked under her fingertips as she granted Asui a good night of sleep

The sight of her ex-comrades at peace made Uraraka feel a warmth she hadn't experienced in a long time, and she could watch this scene forever just to be sure nobody would be hurt ever again. However, just as she drank from the peace and quiet, she heard steps coming from the hallway and towards the room she was in.

Her eyes flashed to the door and her hands balled into fists, regretting not having more time. She had to flee, or else she would be discovered.

The girl frowned and walked to the window, opening it wide and letting the curtains raise to the wind's mercy. Uraraka tugged her hat down, a foot on the edge of the window as she heard a small fragment of the conversation that came from the hallway.

"I heard a noise coming from the hallway. Maybe Asui woke up or something." the doorknob twisted and Uraraka pushed her boot against the edge of the window, prepared to jump. Her hands were slanted on the frame of the windows. "Let's just check on her."

Uraraka didn't jump in time, because the door unexpectedly swung open and Kaminari and Todoroki emerged from the shadows, gasping as they saw the obvious silhouette of an intruder in the room, dark against the moonlight. Her tresses twirled against the wind slowly. She looked back with a small frown, because she had been caught, but the sight of her comrades alive and healthy made her get the same warm feeling from seconds earlier.

But she knew better. And she was no more than a shadow in the night for them.

"Who the hell are you!?" Kaminari took out a small dagger as he frowned at her. Uraraka breathed in and breathed out, waiting for him to strike. By her side, Asui's bed creaked as the girl incorporated herself, wide awake. "Show yourself! What the hell were you doing in Asui's room!?"

Uraraka didn't even dedicate them a small speech. She knew that roaming around here would only cause her trouble, and it was her time to now flee from the scene. She couldn't explain her reasons, for she would sound crazy, or explain the whole mess she had gotten everyone in. A mess inconceivable to the human and bare eye.

She refused to wait any longer, and she lunged through the windows and behind the curtains, disappearing in silence in the night like an eagle in flight. Todoroki ran to the window, confused and wanting answers from this stranger, but he didn't see her anywhere. She was gone like the wind.

"Asui?" the knight turned when Kaminari called the alchemist's name. She was awake, lying in her bed with a strangely appeased expression that none of them could comprehend. "Are you okay? Why are you smiling?"

Because, indeed, the alchemist had a very soft smile sketched on her features, a sincere soft one that only she could understand. The girl caressed her forehead softly, her eyes closed in bliss.

"I don't know." her voice was colorful and cheerful, soft with care for somebody she didn't know, somebody she couldn't remember. "I just… I feel very happy, for some reason. I feel like an angel just touched my heart."

* * *

Uraraka's room was clean and tidy the day after. The books had been stacked into small piles by her bed and the various feathers and pencils were in their proper containers. She had intended to make this look like just an average host had passed by, not a mad witch seeking answers for a path she couldn't see.

She woke up at the crack of dawn and tidied the place up in no time. She had several rolls of paper with important locations she would follow for answers, as well as shops she remembered that sold good gear. Some basic botanics were jotted down there as well, just the basic knowledge necessary for an emergency.

After surveiling the room's appearance, she let herself have a break, and slumped over a small set of cushions on the window. The sun had barely risen over the horizon, she should be sleeping. But quite frankly, after last night's regrettable visit to Asui's room, the tides had turned to a very unpleasant direction. While she didn't want to be noticed, this sudden impulse she got to _want_ to be noticed was the sign of her heart's sickness.

Nostalgia plagued her heart like thorns surrounded a wall, and for the sake of the world and her own, she had to get rid of it. And for that, she would have to pack up and run away before she gave in to the desperate need to cling to their shoulders and sob meek apologies.

Just the thought of meeting her guild under the sunshine made her sick with guilt and drowned in despair, but she had resolved to be strong, and so she would.

Her eyes lazily travelled to the white burning fires, making some residue from the last festival gleam in the dark soil. The night had been noisy and wild, and the recollection of the event made her wonder if Bakugou had gone to the festival as he had once planned back then. Back when she was in his life.

She bet it had been fun, but it wasn't a leisure she couldn't afford. Happy times she didn't deserve. Her punishment hadn't been more real and vivid until now that she was crawling through it all.

Uraraka's eyes had started to drift close, her emotions draining all energy from her, until she heard footsteps in the hallway. Her eyes snapped open, wide in attention, and she jumped to the entrance of her room with an ear glued to the door.

"If Asui is fine, then we gotta go. Those guys at the Capital won't wait forever, y'know." that seemed to be Kirishima's voice. "Is Bakugou ready yet? What's taking him so long?"

"He's making more and more plans. No clue what he meant with it, but he said he felt like we were forgetting about something." Midoriya said. Uraraka bit her lip. He was probably now doing all work he hadn't done before the meeting with Gunhead that was supposed to happen in the Capital.

Had she been a distraction in the past, hindering his investigation? She hoped not.

"He's very invested with the campaign. Bakugou doesn't like to take it easy." said Tokoyami from a bit afar. Uraraka could barely make out his voice. "He's very driven to take down that giant at the north. Maybe _too_ driven."

The girl furrowed her brows, concerned and failing to realize she was wading in waters that were too deep. "I totally agree. That guy's been training like mad." Kirishima sounded just as concerned as Uraraka was feeling. "He's always looking ahead, but I don't know what at. He's always barking he has something to protect, because he doesn't wanna fail again."

"We've all heard that. But when we ask, he always gets angry and moody and tells us to shut the hell up." sighed Kaminari who was dangerously close to Uraraka's door. "He must be just hellbent on drinking that dude's blood. He's a barbarian like that."

That word, _barbarian_ , made her snap out of it and widen her eyes as she felt her heart dangle in her chest, tense and threatening to fall. She couldn't invest herself in this, she… she shouldn't. This was not her game, and making her atonement cling to their adventures didn't feel like it was the right thing to do.

Yet… what else was she supposed to do? Where was she supposed to do? What conclusion was she supposed to draw from being alone like this, from just meandering until some divine force came to her? Scars she couldn't erase were embedded into her skin and nobody else's– scars she had gotten from hurting them all with her revenge.

Uraraka couldn't keep on running away from her sins.

No. Uraraka would find her own path. And she had a vague idea of what direction she could point it at.

She walked away from the door.

"Yo, Bakugou, you're finally here!" cheered Kirishima as the leader walked out the door. Everyone started walking out when the blonde appeared, deeming him to be ready to begin their voyage. "Dude, you took forever. What the hell are you up to?"

"Shut the fuck up, rockbrain!" yelled Bakugou, probably waking up half the residence, his fist shaking before Kirishima's eyes. "I'll kick your ass to the moon and back if you keep on pryin'."

With that, the blond hunter began to walk down the hallway with a small 'tch', but Kirishima smiled tenderly, knowing Bakugou was a great barker but a horrible biter. Besides, if he wanted to have a fight, the redhead wouldn't let him down, that was for sure.

Suddenly, the leader stopped in his tracks. Kirishima was surprised by this, and when he looked up, Bakugou was looking to his side, to nowhere in particular. His eyes were slightly wider than usual. "You ok there?"

When the other man spoke, his voice was a bit raspy. He gulped. "Yeah. It's nothing." he turned again, his stride never faltering. "Let's get going. That bastard won't have his ass kicked unless we do something about it."

In her room, Uraraka's windows were open wide, the curtains floating with the morning wind with sunshine streaming into the empty room ever so slowly.

* * *

"Guys, what was that?"

The parading warriors stopped in their tracks through the edge of the canyon, looking to their sides and down to the river deep blow them. The canyon's valley was relatively slim, and with the incoming thunderstorm that was closing in from behind them, the waters had adquired a dark green color.

Bakugou frowned and crouched to look into the waters. "Nothing seems outta place."

The waters rocked below them, yet nothing out of the ordinary happened. The little waves and crashes of the river were becoming a bit fierce with the northern winds, nothing more remarkable than that. Midoriya looked down as well. "It might have been something from the other side of the canyon."

The two men walked ahead of the group as well. Todoroki looked at Bakugou with an uncertain glance. Something seemed to be amiss. The aforementioned craned his head back to look at the knight, his hand on the tilt of his sword. "What's up, bastard? You want a piece of me?"

Todoroki didn't pay attention to this brazen statement and shook his head, looking to his side in search of any foe that dared come for them. "We can't stop walking, or else the storm will catch us. If anything, we should walk faster."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "The canyon bends to a curve a bit ahead in an esplanade, then goes downhill to the forest before the Capital. If we reach the forest and make it to a cave, we'll be able to find shelter."

Everyone nodded in agreement and the tempo of their steps grew. A small pitter-patter drizzled on them slowly, very gently, making Asui look up to the sky as she walked. Then she sighed before taking another step forward– until, suddenly, a crash was heard, the waves below them rocked angrily against the wall of the canyon, and a clear screech echoed closer than before, as if the monster was right below-

"Back off!" Bakugou was able to order this as he leaped back, and a giant tail swiped the underside of the cliff to make part of the path crumble to the river with the noise of thunder rumbling in the distance.

The rain suddenly got a bit heavier, the night got darker, and terrifyingly loud cracks were being made on the surface as the creature pieced its claws through the cliff like butter. Midoriya's eyes trembled, his frown deepening, and he ordered Yaoyorozu to come to them quickly. "Make a bridge, quick!"

The girl was quick to comply, nodding, and opened her cloak to let a slate of wood slide to the floor and settle over the big gap the creature had created. Everyone began to walk over the board, and once they made it to the other end, the path they had been previously standing on was destroyed.

Bakugou stayed behind to make sure everyone was safe, and took out his sword. "We gotta make it to that darm curve!" in cue, he heard another screech, but he didn't dare look down to face the creature lest his cool was threatened. "That bastard's coming!"

He ran away with his peers, but just as he caught up with them, he heard the monster crawling its way along the river on the wall, its claws piercing great cracks on the surface. It screeched loudly in a predatory and territorial threat. They had walked into the wrong lane.

The path they ran was destroyed within minutes, and when they eventually reached the esplanade, it wasn't without signs of distress and exhaustion. The second Bakugou and Kirishima arrived, the monster crawled up the walls of the canyon and everyone's breath hitched at the terrifying creature before them.

"It's a legendary beast from this river!" bellowed Midoriya, taking out his sword. His body gleamed with streaks of red. "We need to kick it back to the river, we're invaders to them!"

The blond hunter grinned at the creature. As it crawled nearer to them, it let out another high pitched wail of anger as it frowned on them, its scales brightening after a flash of thunder and revealing a dragon with green scales, colossal tail and sharp claws, his teeth wet with blood and sweet water. Its tail was wagging back and forth, relishing at the meal that was them.

Bakugou's eyes gleamed in excitement, because this motherfucker would serve for some glorious supper. He wiped some rain off his forehead, glaring at it with a sadistic wolfish smirk, weighing his sword on his hand.

Kaminari walked to them, cracking his knuckles. "We ain't gonna beat him, but I can at least paralyze this guy!"

He pushed his knuckles into the dirt which he knew had a great amount of iron in it, and the land flashed with light once, twice, before the currents reached the monster and it screamed in pain, the scales steaming as Kaminari grinned with confidence.

However, the creature shook the zapping off and swung his tail at him, throwing the archer off to roll close to the cliff's edge. When he realized he was too close to falling, he backed off with a pant. "What's up with this guy!? I barely grazed him!"

"That doesn't matter!" yelled Todoroki in the rain, mustering a few of his flames to try and be stronger than the rain. If he tried hard enough, he could muster enough energy to not let them be consumed. "Everyone, we need to go all out! Let's use brute force here!"

As if it had understood the threat, the monster screeched, and Bakugou understood the message somehow. It was trying to defend its home, but the blond was sure this fucker wasn't aware of the troublemakers it was going against, and he couldn't be more thrilled about it. Whipping his cape back, he began walking as his peers got ready to attack.

"Well motherfucker, this ain't your home anymore!" the red-eyed man licked his fangs and stomped to him, then progressed to a sprint and readied his palms. "Get ready for a beating-!"

Bakugou was brutally pushed aside by a gust of wind that knocked the air out of him and made him roll to his side, an anonymous attack that was anything but natural. Thunder rolled again, lightining clapped in the distance, and Bakugou grunted in pain as everyone saw him land.

Before they could blink or ask, a shadowy figure landed on the head of the creature, hands on its horns. Her face was shadowed by her big purple hat, and a black cloak clung to her body and blew in the ruthless wind. The monster was startled and shrieked as the figure took control of it.

"What the-" Mina frowned, getting ready to slay another enemy, considering that person to be the controller of this monster. "Who is that!?"

Midoriya, however, could tell they weren't the enemy.

Uraraka slammed her hands on the creature's forehead and horns to send furious flames into its body, burning its skin and slowly making her flames go way into him. As she applied her magic on him, she frowned and panted, trying to shove as much damage in his body as capable.

The creature wailed and growled, and the rest watched the show with frantic eyes. Uraraka lifted her head up to meet their eyes under the shadows of the night. "Everyone, run away! This place is dangerous!" Uraraka wrapped her hands in lightning and struck the creature's wounds with it, staggering to stay up on its head as he shook and tried to get her off his scales. "I'll take care of this! Run to the Capital!"

Bakugou, who had managed to get on his feet, spat at the idea of somebody who believed to be almighty and heroic taking the glory off his hands. And how the fuck did she know where they were headed? "Who the fuck are you!?"

"Does that even matter!?" she screamed without thinking. "I said run! This place is too dangerous for you guys!"

Uraraka summoned her staff and pierced the creature's neck with it, and the monster tried to stagger to the river before she took hold of its horns and tried to redirect it to the land again, all under her unknowing peers who had no idea of who she was, or where she had come from– but all they knew was that she was saving their lives and had probably more power than all of them together.

Without a hint of hesitation, everyone nodded and followed her orders under a very baffled Bakugou. "What the fuck are you little shits doin'!?"

Kirishima stopped running and beckoned at him. "She's right, Bakugou! Look at her, she probably can do this quicker than us, and we have other priorities right now! We gotta trust her!"

In the rain, the blond placed his eyes on her form, and unbeknownst to him, she was also locking eyes with him, as if begging for him to leave. She knew how this would end if she let them face this beast by themselves: they'd be separated, some thrown to the river and others alone to run away. She was securing a safe path for them.

But he didn't know any of this, and in his ignorance, he had no other choice but to trust her and ignore the weird aura that enshrouded her spirit. Grimacing, Bakugou took to his peers and followed them. "Fucking fine!"

He didn't even regard the fighting sorceress other than a last glance in her direction that she knew had zero meaning. Maybe he was making sure she wasn't a mirage, or making sure she didn't do anything sketchy. Uraraka knew Bakugou hated being indebted to others, but he didn't know this wasn't about debts and whatnot.

The girl leaped off the creature and crossed her hands in a sign, making a violet seal appear under her feet, stars and quills engraved on the soil below her feet. Her eyes were lighted for a moment, showing her feral scowl and the dark look the was throwing at the creature, and then suddenly balled her fists to release the power of the seal, breathing in deeply, and-

A blinding beam of light shot up to the sky in the distance, and the warriors turned in their hasty path to look back to the dark sky. The beam disappeared three seconds later, and a hush fell upon the area.

Jack frowned. "Do you guys think that girl…?"

Bakugou's eyes narrowed for a split second, and then he turned to walk forward, his hands rolled into fists and his eyes shadowed by his hair. His jaw was clenched for a reason he didn't know, and he felt a heavy weight in his heart he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"I don't fucking care." after all, he didn't know her. His voice was disdainful and, after a few seconds, the feeling was gone. All he wanted now was to arrive to the Capital. "Let's get going."

* * *

The river flowed languidly along the canyon line, the waters rocking with sparkles that the sunrise had glittered. There was the croaking of a frog and the peaceful dance of a bee, all interrupted when a frantic hand shot up from the crystalline waters and held onto the grassy patch of land she found. A groan made the two creatures flee, and the hand crawled its way to the surface.

From the waters shot up a very wet Uraraka, her clothes dark and her hair a mess. Panting, she knelt on the ground and looked back, and when she didn't find any disruption in the glow of dawn, she let herself release a sigh, relieved. It seemed like the creature wouldn't come by anytime soon.

While Uraraka had taken good care of the animal and let it perish in the highlands of the canyon, its weight had made those very grounds collapse and the cliff broke down right under her feet, as if fate was attempting to pull the strings attached to her feet and drag the human that she was back to Earth, far away from the Sun.

And that Earth meant meeting the cold dark waters she had once been saved from by the dear barbarian, yet this time she made use of her magic to maneuver through the waters. She wasn't the most skilled swimmer but she _was_ a very skilled magician, and she knew when to make use of her little tricks up her sleeve.

So there she was, in the very same land she had once upon a time landed on, but alone. But she didn't really care, as that meant the currents of fate had been changed, and all she had to do now was make sure that river flowed in the direction she desired.

Uraraka got on her feet, her knees quivering. A part of her expected somebody to come to her with the intention of helping, maybe Aizawa– her eyes widened and she hesitantly looked back at the river. The clear waters gave off an orange glow as the sun shone on it, and bathed Uraraka in the glory of dawn.

But she felt her heart wrench as she realized she had left Aizawa behind on a whim– and she wasn't sure if she should have left somebody in a higher status than her in the dust, no matter how long he had been taking to come back. Her eyes trailed down to the grass.

"Maybe it's for the best." she mumbled, her eyes now to a side, watching the river flow. Her cloak was dripping. Her hair was plastered as it curled on her face. Her hat was no more than a rag. The shadow she cast on the ground extended far ahead of her as she didn't face the rising sun just yet.

Her eyes drifted then to her reflection, which rippled on the soft waves of the current. She was radio silent, watching her own shape remain unchanged in that reflection. Maybe she had expected something to change in the few minutes she observed her reflection, thinking, hesitating, but after all this time, it was still her.

Her eyes closed for a brief second and she let a soft smile of content drag itself across her features. She was tired, but not broken, and this was the right way to go. Somehow, her heart felt she was making the right decision, walking this path, and instead of doubting– instead of looking back to her track record, instead of letting those dark flames of her heart reduce her confidence, she took pride on those, wore them like a reminder of what she had done, and swallowed the load.

With that, Uraraka turned around to face the sun. There were no clouds in the sky and the purple and orange hues of the horizon were starting to shift to cerulean blue. A small breeze toyed with her tresses, and she took the collar of her cloak to tug it up her neck. The fabric blew in the wind as she walked forward, her staff tucked under her garment.

With a gentle smile, she tugged her gloves further on her hands.

"Off to the Capital we go."

* * *

When Uraraka got there, it was almost nighttime, yet the sun still shone. The familiar path up to the gates, all covered in cobblestone and surrounded by trees stretched up and down the hill, dimly lit by oil lamps as the stars twinkled dimly above her.

She had stopped in a small village for a quick change of clothes, which she realized would so help not be recognized by her ex-comrades, other than to keep dry. After that and a quick meal, Uraraka embarked on her new journey. And when she arrived, she was feeling energetic enough to contemplate the idea of blasting through the entrance and slap the guards out of her way.

Much to her chagrin, she saw a few guards were stationed in front of the big wooden gates. None of them had a scratch, so she assumed the guild had been let in peacefully. Knowing the true dark nature of the government, she didn't like that sly peace one bit. Her gloved hands balled into fists, tense at the thought of them all running wild, unknowing of the condition they were in.

Uraraka gulped. Her main objective had been to not cause too much noise and go around on her own without disturbing the waters too much. But then there were people like these guys, not letting her do her job, and she was conflicted about what she should do.

Normally, she wouldn't let a bunch of guys stop her, but the operation was too delicate for her to mess it up and be noticed by the guild or the government for that matter. Her determination usually let her blast through everything, for she didn't need to care about major consequences other than an earful for attacking security forces.

But now she didn't know what to do.

She stood in the distance, surveilling her options. She could breeze through with some trick that woke up suspicion or be inconspicuous and silent, yet that would make her slower. She reckoned the guild should be resting right now, so while she had time to spare, Uraraka didn't like waiting around if she could do something about the matter.

She heard something rolling on the pavestone and a merchant walking by.

The merchant walked up to the gates. He had a gray long beard and thick eyebrows, almost shadowing his eyes. The man wore a sandy colored kimono and a white headband. He waved at the guard, who seemed to recognize him almost immediately. "Good afternoon! Could you please let me in? I have the government pass right here…"

After the man began to rummage for the small plaque, the guard hurried to put him at ease. "Don't worry, we were expecting you. The General informed us of your arrival, so you can come right in."

Their voices were unexpectedly polite to the true nature of their organization, and the gates slowly opened to the transitated Capital. The merchant nodded with a smile and pulled the cart full of hay past the gates, and right after he was through, the gates closed once more.

A few minutes later, the man parked the cart on a street near the cathedral. He wiped some sweat off his brow. The weather today was relentless with its heat, and he needed some water. He left the cart there for a second when he spotted a small tavern nearby, needing to get a fresh beer.

A bit later, Uraraka's head peeped from within the hay. Her hands parted the mess in twain to get hear bearings, searching for any source of trouble in the street, and found it to be empty. Soon enough, she heard coordinated military steps past her, and hid again in the golden threads of food.

The guards stopped by the cart. One of them arched their eyebrow in suspicion. "Who the hell would leave their cart in here?"

"Miss Stewart asked for some hay for her horses, and Gunhead is a sucker for that woman. I guess he sent somebody to provide." theorized the other, and a small sigh of relief pushed through her lips at the unsuspicious man. It was cut short as she heard the drawing of a sword. "This mount is big as hell, though. Big enough to hide a treasure."

"A treasure!? That has nothing to do with us!"

"Think about it, idiot!" spoke the other in a whisper, even though they were alone in the street. That was the levels of suspicion their intentions carried. "If we discovered a trafficking ring within the nobility of Gunhead's contacts, we'll get the promotion of a lifetime! And we might even get that bastard off his lil' throne."

"Now you're being ridiculous." one of the men walked to the pile of hay, right in front of Uraraka's hidden frame. "Why would somebody hide a damn treasure here?" his palm slid into the hay to part it and Uraraka sucked in a hitched breath as light started to peer through the hay. "It's not as if that old man had a…"

The guards made eye contact with Uraraka, their faces pale and cold at seeing somebody actually hidden there. She blinked at them. They blinked back at her, unsure of what to do with this information, because she had an adorable face, yet had a suspicious reason to be where she was.

Three seconds passed.

And then, a massive diagonal beam of light accompanied with a explosion rippled through the street and boomed throughout the whole city with its deafening detonation. Guards in nearby streets heard this and hurried to the scene, only to find the guards on the floor, the hay slightly spread on the ground and no enemy to be found. However, the panicked and pale faces of the guards said somebody had definitely been there.

The leader of the squad turned to his mates. "Comb the zone! Whoever did this must be a terrorist!" the hurried steps of soldiers looking around tapped on the ground, while others picked the soldiers up and gathered them in their arms. "Colonel! Colonel! Snap out of it, what the hell-!?"

Hidden from the public eye, Uraraka hid. Her body hung from the handle of the sewer tap, her hand curled around the iron handle as she panted. The speed at which she had kicked the tap open and leaped in had been astronomus, taking advantage of the smoke her explosion had created. Her body hung a few feet above the sewer grounds, and she looked around with a pant in search of any authority.

Deeming the place to be safe, she dropped to her feet, removing a hair of hay off her cheek. Her body turned around in search of a path. The sewer roads were rather bleak and dark, the way illuminated by a few flickering yellow oil lamps. The depths were dark in any direction she wanted to take.

"Drat." she let out, not wanting to curse. Somehow, she feared being heard in this echo-friendly space and knew she had to keep it low. The only rational way to go about this was to sort a path out based on the city above her, based on the foggy memory she had of this city.

She was very close to the cathedral, thus close to the corners of the Capital. Anywhere she went would be a step closer to the center, where the Council lay. She had some business to do there, and hopefully successfully avoid her guildmates. But the corridors were very wide, circular, and prone to easy echo. The only thing that accompanied her was the pitter-patter of water as it fell from the several sewers and tubes.

The corridors were terribly dark as well, but she could make out a faint light amidst all the foggy obscurity. Any enemy could come at her from behind and she would be done.

She had to figure out a way to pinpoint her surroundings in a dark, sketchy place. Balling her fingers into fists, she started humming a small lullaby, low enough to not be heard from very afar, but booming enough so she could pinpoint any place where the echo didn't bounce off, thus where an enemy could be waiting for her.

Uraraka's steps rippled through the crevice as she walked almost aimlessly, looking up and ahead in search of any tap to the surface. The stench in there was unbearable, something she hadn't stopped to think about before leaping in. A clearly foolish decision, but the cover this place offered to her if the authorities tracked her down was worth any toxic smell. She could put up with it, or if worst came to worst, cast a spell.

She was almost skipping from step to step, using the extra noise her boots made for extra caution. If anybody found her, the chances of them coming out alive were slim. In the darkness, she had the upper hand, and could cast spells at a ridiculous speed without them being able to see it coming. If anything, she was scared of being surprised, because Uraraka didn't quite like surprises in the dark.

Almost giddy at this point, Uraraka leaped around and leaped, trying to pinpoint her own location by what noises she could hear. She bet the guards were looking all over for her. Let them, she thought. That will make her investigation easier with all the fuss.

Right as she was skipping by a cascading stream of water, Uraraka heard an unnatural, out of rhythm splash come from the current by her side. Her steps halted to a stop, hands behind her back, and glanced back at the river, where she saw conspicuous bubbles of greenish water popping and growling in her direction.

She faced that direction, shoving her gloves further into her hands, a frown present in her features that shadowed her otherwise angelic face. Turns out she'd have another showdown sooner than expected.

"My, my." she mumbled, getting ready for another fight. "This city seems to want to get rid of me too soon."

* * *

"Dude, chill! Who the hell would be in the city after that alarm that went off earlier?"

"I don't care!" bellowed Bakugou at him, walking ahead. "If there's some bastard here to annoy the shit outta me, they'll have to go over my dead body first. Something's off about this place."

"You're just being paranoid."

"I'm not!"

After saying that, Bakugou stopped in his tracks and shifted his eyes to the right, then to the left. Something was very wrong with this city, but it was just a gut feeling he couldn't explain. He had felt it the moment he stepped past the gates, and the feeling had but faded. It was in the air, even, like some sort of corruption that wasn't letting time and air flow naturally.

Bakugou was a barbarian to everyone, but he was awfully perceptive. And he knew something was very wrong or misplaced here. And that girl from earlier…

The place was only getting weirder and weirder. The Capital seemed to be surrounded with corruption and weirdness despite the elegance it stinked inside of it. First a legendary monster tries to raid them, an unknown girl saves the day for no absolute reason (and very casually, might he add, as if she had done this countless times), and then there's a terrorist attack?

They were faces with too many problems just the first day. Seeing how the day was going, Bakugou had thought it'd be good to stroll around at night and investigate, lest some criminal scum was around planning a coup-de-état. Or something weirder. Maybe he could get rid of these feelings if he walked them around and exhausted himself into slumber.

But he knew that the pulsating energy right under his feet were too mind-consuming to just be his mind making things up. Judging by the ways some people had grimaced while strolling to the residence, he was sure they had felt it too.

The vibrations. Like despaired screams of agony thumping in his head. Like crawls needing release from the earthly soil. This place felt to be haunted yet looked as normal as any metropolis.

Bakugou felt stupid. And Kirishima, in exchange, looked as bright as ever.

Couldn't he feel the blood crowding the ground, making small rivers between the stones? Why wasn't anybody talking about this? Why was this town so silent, as if it held an enormous secret?

"Tch, whatever." conceded Bakugou. Him and Kirishima were walking alone by a small stream of water, no guards to be seen despite the attack earlier. "We'll just go around and search. Won't hurt us to sniff around a lil'."

Kirishima grimaced a little. "I wanted to sleep, y'know. Some people here appreciate their beauty sleep." his arms were bent under his head, as if he couldn't sense the danger Bakugou felt throbbing in his heart. It was irritating as hell. Suddenly though, Kirishima stopped in his tracks and looked at the crystaline stream. "Huh?"

Bakugou stopped as well, looking over his shoulders with disdain. "If you're gonna complain, at least fucking walk while at it."

Kirishima looked at his leader, then at the stream. He shook his head, deeming that small passing thought to be just a fragment of his imagination. "It's nothing." he answered, as if Bakugou had asked. The blond saw his small hesitation and frowned. "Let's keep going. Any places you wanna check out?"

"Do you think I got any time to plan this out? Haven't been here for a while. I just came for some political stuff and some competitions back in the day. I barely know the place myself." explained Bakugou, looking ahead when he felt Kirishima was following him. "I just wanna do some walkin', then call it a day. Can you do that without complaining?"

"You say it as if I only did that."

"That's all you have done since we left the dorms, dumbass."

Bakugou sighed as Kirishima proceeded to complain further, but a sudden crash behind them interrupted their spiel. At that moment, the leader felt that same throb from earlier hitting him on the head, as if it was at the verge of release, and Kirishima actually felt it too, cupping his head with a grimace. The ground trembled, the men could hear actual fighting closeby.

And suddenly, a beam of light made the tap of the sewers boil and shoot up to the sky, a shadowed figure with a cloak jumping out of the surge of power as it subsided and faded. The blinding light faded and the boys uncovered their eyes to see a cloaked person standing a bit far away from them, their back to the boys as it stared down at the-

The smoke revealed a terrifying monster roaring at the figure, which only panted as the monster wagged its tail and hissed. The cloak blew in the fog and the beast was bleeding severely from a gushing wound on its belly. The monster's features reminded Kirishima of a dinosaur, one with glaring fangs and a crest like that of a sea atrocity. Its golden scales were hard to miss.

"What the hell is that!?" screamed Kirishima, taking out his daggers and getting into a position to fight.

Uraraka turned around hastily, her eyes widening in terror as she saw her guildmates had happened to be there. She looked back at the monster with a wince of anger. "I told you to not take it up here, you monster!"

That voice. That crystalline yet rough voice. Bakugou growled. "I can't believe it!" he took out his sword, prepared to slay down this foe threatening the Capital's safety and also that woman who had ridiculed him earlier. "It's fucking-"

A flash of light blinded the pair once more, and before them appeared a screen of green that blinked out of existence a second later as the boys were able to see again, little stars twirling out of their sight as a complicated star seal appeared under her feet. Bakugou was ready to throw a fit, not wanting to be fucking jailed by this bitch– what the fuck was she trying to pull?

He thought he was being imprisoned when Uraraka was trying to protect them. However, the leader was ready to blast them off and Uraraka wouldn't have that. Her eyes turned angrily to them, paying attention to them for a split second before the monster roared for her attention. Seeing how the beast was still standing and preparing its claws to destroy her, she knew she had spent too much magic today to be able to face him and win.

She had to flee.

Her hair started floating, and she slammed her hand on the seal below her feet, making sudden rock hands appear from nearby to push the monster back, but they only nudged him a few feet back, as it pierced right through them with ease, only burdening its sight. Unbeknownst to it, that was Uraraka's plan– to only hinder its attacks for a split second.

The monster was already screeching arrogantly when Uraraka appeared from behind the lights and flying debris, light beams and twirling small claws of light around her as her lights were wrapped around her body, giving it enough momentum and force to knock the foe off its place. "That wasn't the right spell!" she smirked.

Then, the beams and hands of light collided with the large body of fat and scales while Uraraka crashed with its head, kicking it back on the head and making it fly across the street and fall on some closed shops. Slates flipped off the ground as the monster's flying path created a big crevice on the ground, leaving smoke and fog at its wake.

And at the center of it all stood Uraraka, aware that authorities would soon come and neighbors would have undoubtedly noticed this. The protective screen dropped from her… friends? with a blink of dust, and the boys blinked at her as her head craned back to them slowly.

Her cloak and clothes were blowing in the waking wind, her eyes were shining in a very familiar tone Bakugou could almost recall. They were gleaming, almost in white, her hair flowing and bending to the current's desire.

And it made Bakugou's throat constrict for some reason. But he recovered quickly, but not without a falter of his voice. "Who… who the fuck are you!?"

A fortunate blow of smoke concealed her figure for a split second, in which Bakugou wasn't quick enough to reach her. After the dusty smoke cleared out, Uraraka was gone from sight, leaving only the traces of her destruction behind. If none of that had been there, if the bleeding monster hadn't been wailing in the distance, perhaps Bakugou would have thought it had been no more than a mirage.

But it had happened. She had happened.

When he noticed she was gone, his heart, for some reason, _squeezed_.

* * *

"It's nice to finally meet with you, Gunhead." Midoriya wobbly walked to the man's desk, and the General promptly got up and offered his hand to shake. "We've had to wait for quite some time."

"I've been told so. My sincere apologies." he sighed, shaking Midoriya's hand. After that, he tried to offer it to the other leader as well, but Bakugou just gruffly sat down and crossed his arms like a big baby. "Papers pile on papers lately. Big things have been happening around the Capital these days."

"Oh, fucking tell me about it." Bakugou looked back for no reason. Strangely, he had expected to see a whole guild backing him up– but then he remembered that only the leaders of the guild had come, and settled on his chair. But his expression wasn't quite as ease. "What the fuck's going on here? First a terrorist attack and then a sewer beast?"

Gunhead sat on his chair as well, hands folded and entwined on the table in a unnatural manner. He almost dared laugh it off. "We haven't been able to track down the figure behind these attacks, both the terrorists or the person who took down the monster. The guards that were knocked out in the process are still hospitalized, and memories are but a haze for them."

Midoriya's eyes darted down, as if ashamed, but just saddened by the news. It appeared like the moment the guild stepped into the city, trouble had risen and relentlessly shaken the Capital awake. It couldn't be easy to manage a situation like this, so he couldn't really complain about the meeting's delay. Gunhead seemed apologetic enough to feel pity for the man.

Bakugou, however, was harder to convince. "Don't you have a fucking army for this shit? It shouldn't be us taking care of your little beasts, y'know."

The General sighed. "We didn't know there was a monster that big in the sewers, or in our waters for that matter. The river harbor has been closed down until investigations are finished and we can find the culprits behind all this." his chin rested on top of his hands now, as if thinking deeply about it. His tone shifted with the context of his thoughts, cunning and suspicious. "My men barely have a sniff of where the culprits could have gone. But some others have… theories."

Midoriya knew this was not the reason why they came to his office, but it didn't hurt them to hear about this. "Theories?"

The man before them nodded, and sighed whilst standing up to look out the window. "Yeah. Some silly, some not as silly." his arms were bent behind him. The big windows before them cast a mild noon light that made Gunhead's silhouette a mere shadow. "Something's happening within the city's limits. Something I don't quite understand myself."

That piqued Bakugou's interest and his crossed arms relaxed, eyes zeroing on the man who apparently saw disturbances that could very well be his own. "Spit it out already."

Gunhead was almost amused by his impatience, but his stance became serious a second later. "Suspicious activity has been occurring in this town, around the merchant areas and mining zones. It's not something that has been officially reported or investigated– it's a gut feeling I have."

That sounded stupid, but not baseless. The two men let the other continue.

"Rumor has it a mafia is lurking in the outskirts of the Capital, near the cathedral where the terrorist attack occurred. My men have a hunch this could be one of them attacking guards who walked into the wrong territory. Needless to say, seeing what pain befell those two poor soldiers, most of my troops are… scared shitless." his words were severe, yet that last sentence was pronounced with a hint of near _humor_. "It's amusing, isn't it? To be almost killed instantly the moment they got close to a particular zone. A weird and unique event may I say."

Bakugou and Midoriya exchanged glances. It was indeed weird for that to happen, and if one thought about it coldly, it made sense to join the dots. A mafia lurking and a weird out of the usual attack for no specific reason? Terrorism could fall in that category. What Bakugou wasn't very sure about was if the tone Gunhead was approaching it with was the most fitting one.

"Yeah." said Midoriya, almost breathless. "This place is very wealthy. It could clearly be the case that somebody could be interested in this zone's mines and gems."

Bakugou shot him another glance that showed he didn't agree with them acting compliant, but Midoriya nodded at him in reassurance. Gunhead was unaware of this exchange and responded. "Truly. Gems are our first and foremost way of business with the south region, as well as other major businesses." the way he said _major businesses_ made Midoriya shift uncomfortably for no reason. "So whoever this mafia is, they are attacking our merchants and profiting from our gems. Townsfolk will have to close their shops because of this lack of mining activity."

Bakugou nodded, listening carefully. Midoriya decided to speak no words, waiting for more information.

Gunhead suddenly chuckled. "All of this under the blanket of a rumor, of course. No need to alarm as of yet."

Midoriya shifted on his seat, fists on his lap that were tightening with each second of silence that passed after Gunhead's statement. Bakugou, on the other hand, leant back on his chair and looked at his back with crossed arms. He had a hunch that under that iron helmet, a smirk lay. "Huh. So there's mafia even in this city?"

"You're acting almost surprised."

"That's because I am. No damn wonder nobody can queue for a single meeting when the system is so busy. One would think you would be doing something about all that, though."

Bakugou was met with no response, for Midoriya interrupted before an awkward foreboding silence settled again. "Do you think the beast is some sort of pet from this organisation?"

Gunhead brought a hand under his chin, rubbing on the small stub on the junction between his chin and neck. "That's an interesting theory I have no proof against. We certainly don't know where that creature came from, and we had never had notice of it until now."

Bakugou looked back and thought about it. The creature had been blisteringly similar to the one they encountered at the river, where that bitch had saved their ass or at _least_ bragged about wanting to do so. She had, once more, appeared for that monster at the city, as if she was chasing after it… or _them_.

A thought crossed his mind. Was that girl following them or something, or had it been pure casualty? Bakugou truly thought it to be the latter, yet had suspicions against that. That mage had a very ominous around her that he couldn't shake off. An almost dark and mysterious fog around her magic and the way she moved, so mighty and unreachable.

Hell, they had only met _twice_ and he was already thinking about her flashy moves. That was how impressed he was. But if that monster from last night had been a mafia pet… could it be that…?

"The bitch from yesterday." blurted he out suddenly, looking at the desk as he let his lips speak his mind. "Could it be that she's from the mafia and was chasing after that monster?"

"If she was from that mafia, why would she attack their own pet?" asked Midoriya, frowning, arms crossed as well, crossing his legs like Bakugou. "She didn't leave it exactly undamaged. The monster was almost dead by the time she disappeared. Why would she attempt to kill a pet? You know what we saw."

Bakugou totally fucking knew what they saw, but he couldn't get rid of the thought that her mysterious aura was way too unknown and eerie to be good, and deeming her to be part of that dark mafia was the quickest and easiest explanation for that. It was all too easy, though. "She… was weird."

Gunhead had been listening to the conversation for a bit in silence when he decided to pip in. "Oh, do you mean that sorceress from yesterday?"

"Yeah." responded Bakugou, remembering her uniform, the flight of her robes, her hair, her magical eyes, and the way she moved. It was all too vivid to be good. "She also lent us a hand with a beast that appeared at the river. Totally seems like she's keeping this place safe in your army's stead."

Midoriya mouthed his name and Bakugou smirked at the fidgety and almost _nervous_ pose Gunhead adopted after that. He seemed almost uneasy at the thought of her meandering about, which amused Bakugou to no limit. His statement had been worded to see what Gunhead thought of a mage actually doing better in his territory than his own army.

Neither Bakugou or Midoriya knew if he didn't enjoy being humiliated or he was just nervous because there was a powerful being going around with free will. It was like seeing somebody realize they have a sneaky mouse in their home and they didn't know how to catch it. While the reaction was amusing, Bakugou found it even more suspicious.

Shouldn't Gunhead be happy somebody was helping out? Was he nervous because she could act against him, because nobody knew who or what she was fighting for, what her motives were?

Gunhead eyed him in silence, and Midoriya only grew tenser as time passed. "I think what Bakugou means is that she seems to be helping a great deal. Are you sure she could be involved with all this mafia stuff?"

His words finally broke the stale air and Gunhead looked at the instead. "It could be a possibility, totally. She hasn't done anything to prove us she's to be royal to the government. In these dire times, being neutral isn't possible. You're either against us, or with us."

Bakugou and Midoriya, once again, crossed glances with each other at those stern words. There were little things in this world that made them double over, but they were aware that antagonizing somebody with more power than them, like Gunhead , would only bring them more trouble. The blond growled a bit, like a small hoarse sigh, and eyed the man in silence.

At the moment, his frame towered over them, arms bent behind his back, as if meditating. Bakugou's eyes narrowed, feeling how the General's last words were peeling layers off his patience and digging themselves into his skin, into his veins, and making him extremely uptight.

The aura of this man… something was wrong with him, with this place. He couldn't be more sure of it.

Midoriya cleared his throat. "In any case, we reckon our petition already reached you, didn't it? We wish to head to the northern territories and fight the beast inside there. We only request a official permission when we're asked for a badge in the frontier."

Gunhead's shoulders loosened and Bakugou only squinted further as the man sat down on his chair, looking at them with a silent stare. One would think he hadn't listened, but he had. He had long meditated about the complications behind this operation, the risks this relatively inexperienced yet powerful team would take just to take down that foe.

A foe that Gunhead couldn't really care less about. Whatever was happening a mile away from him didn't concern him, nor conflicted with his wicked interests. He had heard about the dangers RampAge supposed, but it was something that affected a faraway future, not his present.

He eyed the two boys a bit more. As things were now, they weren't really helping his case, but they weren't antagonizing his position either. However, that blond man… he had the fangs of a wolf and the heart of an untamable beast. He had been warned about this man, he had heard stories about his feats, but Gunhead had expected that brat to take his ego down a notch in front of an authority like him.

His eyes shifted to the green-haired boy. He seemed far more self-aware and conscious of what he was doing. Gunhead had also heard about his divine powers and his strong leadership, yet he couldn't be less peeved about somebody like him being bestowed with such great abilities, divine to say the least. He didn't hate him, but he was a bother to his eyes.

And Bakugou was a rebel who could potentially shake his ground in these dire, dark times. Gunhead couldn't have these brats burdening him.

He smirked inside his mask. "I will gladly give you access across the frontiers." his voice had a gentle layer that hid his intentions. The boys believed him, and looked at each other with relieved looks. "I will have plaques and weapons delivered to your residence this afternoon, so please look forward to that."

Midoriya had a hand on his chest, a grin forming in his lips. "That's great to hear, sir. Thank you so much!"

"Heh. It's a pleasure to let heroes take charge of such a messy situation. You might have the manpower to defeat RampAge… and seeing your feats, I'm certain you will conquer this mission."

But that was a sick, dirty lie.

And Uraraka knew it.

As the two warriors got up and shook hands with the general, Uraraka hung from the roof, upside down, a pair of binoculars perched on her nose. She was barely a shadow behind the upper side of the tall windows, a rope was tied around her leg and the lower part of her long dress, holding it up and against gravity. Her hoodie made her face nothing but a black blur, but when her eyes blinked out of the binoculars to watch the boys leave, she frowned.

Gunhead was sending them on a reckless mission despite knowing, like her, that they would most likely not make it out alive? She should have been more cautious of this guy, but she was here to sort that out. After all, she couldn't have all the sinners dancing on her people's graves.

Uraraka grabbed a small dagger from her thigh and cut the rope loose, falling a bit before she grabbed the windowsill and climbed up to the window again while Gunhead sorted some papers out, probably cackling to himself at his success, his back to her. With a small push, Uraraka opened the door of the window, and that was when Gunhead noticed her.

He should have seen her earlier, for now was too late.

The man instantly panicked upon such sneaky entrance, his hands aiming to grab a weapon. "Who are you!? What are you-"

Before he could grab a weapon, Uraraka flung a string of ice his way that stabbed his right hand, making the man scream in pain and hold his bleeding hand. "Who gave you permission to defend yourself?" the mage retreated her magic from his skin, and the man couldn't help but stand still and watch her walk closer, her face concealed, serene. He was probably hoping she had just come for a friendly chat.

Though, seeing her violent ways, it was anything but that.

"You…" he squinted at her, and she stopped a few feet away from him. Her fingers curled around her hoodie and she threw it back, revealing her face. "You're that mage from yesterday! Do you know how much your stupid pet damaged my-"

"My _pet_? Don't make me laugh." Uraraka wasn't usually this biting and serious, but she _knew_ who this man was. She knew the intricate web of lies he had knit around himself, she knew the ways shadows blended behind him and the corruption schemed he rubbed his hands with every night. He deserved nothing else but cruelty for his evil deeds. "You know very well I'm not associated to the kind you so desperately point fingers at, yet have associated yourself with."

Gunhead was clearly taken aback at her knowing, but before he could speak a word, a flash sped to stand before him and give his chest a strong kick, making his back fly through the room and land right behind his desk. Before he could land on the beige wall, a protection screen appeared behind him. However, her attack woke some dust from the polished rugs, and it still hurt him nonetheless.

The screen faded away when he slumped over it. "Can't have your heavy body breaking the wall. I'm making you the favor of letting your dear office be unscathed." the girl walked again, her fingers brushing the edges of the ancient desk, her steps going around the desk. "You should be thankful."

Gunhead grunted, his hand was still bleeding and he had no way to reach a weapon unless he took that shining dagger out of her hands. "You little brat." he coughed.

"You have seen nothing yet." she said, her voice devoid of any mercy for her opponent. She stood at his feet, not moving, seeing him bleed, grabbing his hand, not doing absolutely anything to fight her. He either knew she had the upper hand and preferred the grovel to her feet, or he was just a wimp. But Uraraka knew him to be cunning and malicious.

He could very well have a trick up his sleeve. She better be careful.

"What the hell are you doing here, you terrorist?" the nickname made her eyes widen, then squint and darken, because there was only one person she would ever allow to insult her with such venom. She didn't like the nickname, but it sounded far worse coming from a criminal's mouth. "Do you think you'll win? What are you even here for? The guards will eventually come."

"Guards can't come if there's no door."

Gunhead let out a disgruntled noise of confusion, and looked at the door from the small leeway he had. Indeed, the door had been replaced with a marked patch of wall, the doorknobs still rolling on the ground. She had indeed melted the door to become a part of the wall.

Cunning little cunt.

Uraraka finally knelt in front of him, his mask inches away from her face. She glared daggers at him, still stunned that this man had once been one she looked up to, one that she had once even said thanks to. One she had been under the protection of, unknowing of his connections and the dark tone of his wings. She had once dug herself into the wolf's den, and made it out alive.

She wouldn't do that ever again.

"You just sent my comrades into a suicide mission." she spat with such venom and coldness it could freeze hell over. Uraraka had no way out of here now that she had made the General bleed once. Once bitten into his skin, there was no way she'd stop there. Not after all the mess he had gotten this city into. Not after all the lives he had taken in the name of power. "I know what you are doing under this very building. You should be thankful I'll send you to hell instead of letting this city beat you to a mush."

Gunhead snickered. Her hold on his shirt tightened. "As if they'd believe-"

Uraraka quickly grabbed her dagger and pushed it to his throat. She wasn't breathing heavily, feeling nervous, or trembling. Gunhead gulped. She knew what she was doing. She had a reason to be here, and he knew he had more than one reasons to be killed. And by the way she spoke, she had too many reasons to end his life.

A small bead of blood landed on the shining knife. "I don't care who you are. All I know is that you're a part of this mess, and you're a worthy link to the Jirou clan." her words were biting like frost. "Consider this my greetings to the gods that created you. This will be the last time I stain my hands with blood."

Gunhead stayed silent, his hands limp, still bleeding. Uraraka stared at him with her big doe eyes that, instead of holding the deadpan and void of a cold-blooded killer, had the emotion and anger of a burdened human being.

It all made sense now.

"Any last words?"

Under his mask, Gunhead smirked again.

"Let's see where this path takes you to, chosen one."

A second later, a thick splash of blood smeared over the presidential windowpane, covering it with bright crimson. To the left, a open window let the curtains blow with the wind.

She was sorry.

But she couldn't let them move forward.

* * *

"So they found Gunhead's body yesterday, huh?" Todoroki said, walking with Midoriya across the hallway. Many townsfolk of different status, many ministers and some noblesman crowded the place, talking among themselves. At the end of the hallway, a cracked door and a hole in what seemed to be a wall behind it showed a grim scene. "I guess that mafia people got tired of him."

Midoriya frowned the whole time. "Nobody heard a thing, despite how… gruesome the murder was, or at least that's what I heard." they were finally at the doorstep, stepping over debris residue. "Nobody saw anything. Nobody heard anything. It's like a ghost had killed him and not a expert Jirou assassin."

"Do you really think it could be the Jirou's doing?"

"Who else could it be? The man was a bit sketchy, sure, but nobody I know had a thing against him. The only ones who could would be the Jirous, wouldn't it?" theorized Midoriya as some guards saw them coming, walking away from the scene once they had taken care of the details. "I don't see a reason for them to actually let this guy live. It's a wonder such a powerful organization hasn't come for his head sooner."

Midoriya was still clueless to the truth, and accepted this as the universal truth. Uraraka had unknowingly hidden his crimes, but paid with his blood.

The pair walked around the desk. Seeing the gruesome murder, the amount of blood soaking the carpet (their steps had a splashy noise to them), their breaths hitched. "Speaking of his head…"

Midoriya looked away, not wanting to see anymore. "God. That… must have hurt a lot."

Todoroki nodded in agreement, gulping and tactfully looking away as well. Right in the moment he darted his eyes at a window, the bloom of sunlight faded slightly and the knight caught glimpse of crimson on the wall, which caught his attention.

His breath hitched. There was a dripping message written with messy handwriting, already getting brown, exposed to the air. Todoroki gently tapped his friend's shoulder, whose eyes widened upon seeing the message.

 _You're too late_. It dripped. _Run away_.

The two read the message meticulously, over and over again. Their eyes had gotten used endless reading and overthinking. Upside down, backwards, little characters. They found no hints of a hidden message there.

The moment they actually stopped to process what the message meant, a hand landed on their shoulders. They turned around, still stiff at the ominous message written on the wall, only to be met with a stern face that was jotting stuff down on a small paper. "You kids were the last ones to see the General alive. You had a meeting scheduled with him, didn't you?"

The doors closed for a second, and two guards stepped to it, as if guarding it. Todoroki's brow arched at this, and he saw some more guards walking closer to them behind this man. Midoriya seemed unfazed. "No, sir. We… It was me and my leading companion, Bakugou."

"That matters not." he said. His voice was raspy, but not with concern or sadness, but a gruff aura of authority. "What matters is that your guild was the last one to visit Gunhead. There's no way anybody else could have gotten in, as there are no buildings nearby."

Oh _no_.

Midoriya was starting to catch up. He gulped, a hand starting to lightly shake. "What do you mean, sir? Anybody could have walked in and-"

"Security told us nobody came in, and that the door had been sealed with some sort of alchemy handwork. We are aware of the power you hold, and nobody in this city holds resent for such loved leader." stated the man, hitting the side of his notes, and then looking at them. "The only people that could ever hold direct resent to him to commit such atrocious murder would be somebody who was prevented from reaching a goal, somebody resentful."

Suddenly, two guards came from behind them. Their arms were pulled back harshly, and soon enough, ropes were being tied to their wrists. Todoroki was quiet, waiting for Midoriya to talk, which he did. "Wait! It couldn't be us! He did allow us to go in our mission!"

"Please, our leader would never send such an unexperienced guild to a suicide mission." this man was clearly new, as he was by far not acquaintanced with the Council's shady connections. Midoriya frowned, as this assumption clearly contradicted what Gunhead what told them. "And we know your group is rather… eager, your barbarian companion has sure made your guild gain some nasty notoriety."

They were suddenly being pushed forward, with Midoriya starting to panic. Seeing how everything had been set up, it was becoming clear that they had been dragged into a trap. He looked back to the guards, who were checking the corpse once more. "Wait! This has to be a mistake! This wasn't our doing!"

The man looked at them again, almost smirking. "Who else could it had been, kid? A ghost? Don't make me laugh." Midoriya tried to squirm, but he was being taken away with a force he wasn't familiar with. Todoroki was torn between burning the ropes or freezing the cops, but both would get them in trouble.

Another soldier piped in. "The trial will be held in two days." Midoriya's breath hitched, because that meant they'd ne locked in the Capital for a little bit before they could part. If they would ever, he might add. "You kids better sit down for a little. You're in deep shit."

Midoriya tried to squirm for freedom, but it was to no avail, for he was being taken away with a strength that was superior to his. In a last attempt to get a view of the scene, his head turned and met the bloody message on the wall.

 _You're too late. Run away._

That was the last thing he saw in the room as the weak doors closed on them.

He was starting to feel like something superior to them was looming over them all.

And he was starting to understand something was, indeed, wrong with this place.

His head was hung forward, a shadow cast over his eyes. "Run away, huh…?"

* * *

The guild had been temporarily taken to a small jail while the Council meditated on their actions. Nobody had been given a mere second of time to testify or speak– everyone believed those sinners that had killed the General deserved zero mercy or benevolence, for which Bakugou had been close to murdering everyone in sight for real this time.

Midoriya and Bakugou had been forced to sit in a room full of nobility and brats that had nothing to do there but defend the interests of the spoiled and privileged. Bakugou hated it– the air of superiority, the feeling that all those bastards had their heads up the Council's ass, and that they had no option but to sit down and just listen and be quiet.

The green haired man had been surprised at Bakugou's resiliency, because the situation had been frustrating to go through. A man with something akin to a wig had talked nonsense and made all little and possibly chances in the universe match so that Yuuei was suddenly an assassin guild with lots of power and, above all, bloodthirst.

They'd either rot in prison (they didn't know a guild like them could easily break out) or be kicked out of the country. Both were easily sortable situations, yet painfully bothersome to deal with.

As they sat in their respective jails, starting to lose faith in ever finishing their mission, all locks simultaneously clicked unlocked and fell to the floor. Bewildered, Midoriya, who was the only one awake at that time, looked out and saw a man hidden in the shadows with a sphere of purple magic that was fading from his hand, arms crossed as he watched the leader walk out of the jail with doubt and a hint of confusion in his step.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Bakugou was also awake, strangely. That guy always fell asleep the first, so it was uncanny to see him awake this late into the night. The blond instantly caught up with Midoriya as they reached the man, who was also walking towards them with sagging shoulders, as if bothered.

He threw back the black hoodie of his cloak, and both men gasped in shock. "Shinsou!? What the heck are you doing here!?"

"I'm breaking you out of here, idiot." he said with a exasperated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he surveilled his surroundings. "Don't tell me the strongest guild in our village couldn't make it out of these weak bars. If you don't learn these tricks my people will catch up, y'know."

Bakugou showed him his fist, growling and frowning in a silent threat. "Quit the damn sass. What the fuck are _you_ , of all people, doing here?"

Shinsou understood their confusion for several reasons. For one, he shouldn't know of their whereabouts, nor help them break out of prison, because they were sworn enemies and no fiber of him felt satisfaction at the prospect of helping these assholes out of the shit they had gotten themselves into.

He liked the idea of letting little shits sink like a stone in water, but it hadn't been up to him this time.

"Wake your people up, we gotta get going." said he simply, not answering Bakugou's question yet and unpurposefully irritating him further. Seeing none of the leaders was moving, he stepped between them to do it himself. "Good grief, you guys are so useless."

"We made you a fucking question!" roared Bakugou, successfully starting to make some of his peers stir in their sleep. "What the hell are you doing here, dipshit?"

Shinsou turned in his step, frowning. "First, stop calling me names. Is that how you treat somebody who just took your sorry ass out of prison? You're such an ungrateful brat. I'm unsurprised." Bakugou started stomping over to him with the goal of giving him a beating, but Midoriya stopped him.

The sorcerer frowned at them, his hands balled into fists. "I don't know what you idiots got yourselves into, but I have been told to take you outta here, so that's what I'm gonna do. Whatever grudges you have, you can save it for later, I don't care. I'm taking you to the village."

Shinsou spoke as if he had been ordered by somebody to rescue them all, and Midoriya's first guess was that King Enji has heard of the trial and was giving them a hand. However, everyone knew better than to think that man was concerned with anything but power. Nobody in their small government had the power to give orders, and he knew his village's administration was extremely loyal to the Council.

Midoriya started mumbling. Bakugou hit him on the head, growling at him to shut up before talking again. "We're not going to the village. We came here for a fucking reason, it ain't like we're sightseein'."

Shinsou glared at them from over his shoulder, stopping and crossing his arms. "I don't care what you wanna do here. All I know is that I gotta take you back home, and that's that."

Midoriya shared a confused look with Bakugou, the latter not liking his ordering a single bit. Then, Shinsou spoke up to back himself up. "This has nothing to do with your case, but you told me you were gonna go catch that beast up north, right? That's not gonna be possible for a while."

That piece of information caught them off-guard, and Midoriya grimaced, worried, his voice almost urgent at the thought of more hinders in their mission. "What do you mean with that?"

Shinsou gave them a thoughtful, concerned glance. "Well, the only bridge that connected to the north region has been mysteriously cut off. My people saw it happening, it just crumbled and disappeared into the canyon. There's nothing left."

The bridge!?

"The _bridge_!?" screeched Midoriya, almost scandalized. Bakugou also looked alarmed in his own way, growling at nothing, jaw clenched and hands balled into fists. "Who could have possibly done that– and why!?"

"I got no clue." responded Shinsou. "But it's destroyed, and that's all. Nobody can go to the northern frontier now, not even the Council. It's a big ass bridge, so I guess it must have been some organization or whatever. It's not my business to theorize, but I thought it'd be good to let you know there's no way you can make it there anymore."

But the gentle leader wasn't giving up. "Can't we leap across?"

"No."

"Maybe we can get Sero and he can-"

"There's a pretty nasty snowstorm going on over there. The moment the bridge broke down, a storm broke out as well."

Bakugou glared at him. "And how the fuck do you know all this? How am I supposed to not think you just wanna hog all the glory?"

"I got no interest in sending my men there to just die. Unlike your people, we're not crazy." Bakugou had nothing to say against that, maybe because he took that as both a compliment and a severe reprimand. "And I got some people watching over that area. I was told to send some of my members there some time ago, and they've been watching over the area until the storm appeared. If you think your guild's the only one to have spies all over the country, you're wrong."

Midoriya was starting to calm down, and so was Bakugou, because they were convinced that they didn't really have any other way out of here but to take Shinsou's help and go back home. Maybe there they'd figure things out, they weren't in such a rush.

The knight spoke up. "You're talking as if you were obeying orders."

Shinsou only stared at him in silence, then shed a small smirked smile, but it held zero evil intentions… just a prideful sort of satisfaction. "You could say I am."

Then, the sorcerer turned again and walked into the dark hallways again. It was clear he didn't really intend to wake up the inmates there anymore, as most were already waking up, but he was possibly looking for something.

The duo followed him, expecting some sort of follow-up to that mysterious sentence.

Shinsou elaborated. "My old man told me to get your asses out of here and to make sure you made it back to the village. He said she'd take care of it all."

Not knowing who he was talking about (they assumed the _it_ was RampAge, which was strange and very surprising), they frowned with confusion. They didn't remember ever being a she in the equation. " _She_? She who?"

Shinsou sighed. "Good question. That man is always giving me the vaguest and weirdest of orders, but it's not like me to disobey." then, he scratched his hair, just as confused as the men behind him. "I got no idea who that is, that's all I know. For now, all I gotta do is take you to the village. She'll handle the rest."

He was basically paraphrasing what his father had said, because the tone that man had spoken with was filled with certainty, as if he knew what they were doing, _she_ and him. Shinsou had no idea how those two had anything to do with this story, as Aizawa had refused to give any more details, but he wasn't one to pry, either.

"Well, it ain't like we can do much more." said Bakugou. He was pretty violent most of the time, but he knew when to call it quits. At least, for now. He wouldn't give up on the future issue just yet. "I'm just irritated some bitch is gonna do the work for us." the thought was almost hilarious, and he smirked in amusement. "I bet she won't even make it out of there. What a dumbass."

Midoriya didn't know what to make of his smug behavior, but Shinsou didn't like it one bit. "I wouldn't doubt her that easily, barbarian." his face turned into a grin that drew itself without will. "I'd say she knows what she's doing."

* * *

In the distance, a figure loomed from the snowy cliff, a blizzard making the edges of their hoodie shake and bend at the wind's mercy. In their hand, a staff touched the ground, and they looked down at the people watching them with an almost defiant stare, invisible in the storm.

Kendo took a step back from her position at the lookout, a telescope tucked safely under her arm. "Who the hell is that!? She just-"

A strong gust of wind interrupted her, the telescope fell off her arm and the glass shattered. The girl looked down at her broken gadget just as her companions got ready to pack up, too freaked out by the sudden change in weather. They had been there for weeks before suddenly somebody was walking through that old bridge, silently.

All they knew was that ten seconds after the stranger set foot out of the wooden structure, there was a booming crash and the bridge crashed down under a cloud of dust and light snow. A weird, powerful and mysterious aura full of secrets settled right on the back of their heads, and when they looked back, they made out a figure looking over a cliff, the snow partially hiding them.

The figure wasn't moving, as if ordering them to move or _else_ , and given the sudden drop in temperatures and the ominous tension, no good would come from fighting such warrior. The blizzard was only growing more intense, they could feel omnipresent eyes watching their every move, like cat eyes in the night sky.

"Kendo, we gotta get the hell out of here!" screamed Tetsutetsu from a bit afar, a thick coat wrapped around his shoulders. He followed his friend's eyes to the cliff, and gulped upon seeing that the mage was not moving. Their cape was flapping in all directions, and while Tetsutetsu expected them to _move_ , he knew they wouldn't.

He knew that if they had broken the bridge down so effortlessly, they weren't some pushover assassin on the loose. They had chosen a very uncanny and worthless piece of construction that was particularly important, too, so they had a very careful and polished hand. And seeing how they stood there, in the wind, almost challenging to go up and fight them, not allowing them or _anyone_ to go to the northern region…

He frowned. "I can't help but wonder if Yuuei sent that bastard to us to kick us out. If they did, they chose a damn bulldog to defend their little new castle."

Kendo bent down to pick up her coat, and throw it over her shoulder. The broken telescope was getting buried in the snow, and it wouldn't take long for them to join it if they hung around for too long. "Let's get going. I hate having to tell Shinsou about this, but there's no way we can fight a sorcerer in this weather!"

They heard Monoma calling for them to hurry up, and they nodded to each other and broke into a run down the snowy almost frozen hill. At the top of it all, of the hills by the entrance to the north stood Uraraka, her staff like that of a queen marking her territory.

When she saw the members of Grinning Blade running away, she sighed. In no way had she meant to scare them or summon a storm, but she couldn't let any of the people she knew go over the thin line she had traced.

Not after all she had seen.

Uraraka looked up. The clouds were thick with angered snow and hail, but she knew they would fade soon. At this moment she was certain there would be no time for anybody to reach her or RampAge when the storm calmed down, yet she couldn't help but be uneasy. Surprises came as inconveniences at times like these, and she couldn't help but be too damn careful with those.

The girl turned around to face the northern region. It was covered with dead trees and houses were a splatter of black and blue in the canvas of this countryside. It was all blanketed in snow and frost. The black mountain ridge, characteristic of the area, separated the big nomad cities from the chaotic time mess she knew to rest at the end of this forsaken country.

In fact, behind all the frost, the range, the storm and the fog, she could make out the peak of a very elegant dome: RampAge's lair, waiting for her to come. The girl frowned, fists tightening, and she fastened the ties of her cloak to shield herself from the cold. No matter how many layers of clothing she wore, a very different kind of frost had wrapped around her numb heart.

The fear of not knowing if she'd defeat the foe that awaited miles away from her.

But she did it once, she'd do it twice, and she'd do it again if it meant changing the course of history. To everyone that saw her, she was no more than a peasant taking a nice walk down the meadows of the north.

But to her and to the devas above, she was the savior of this world.

With that, Uraraka left into the snowstorm, disappearing in the hail.

* * *

It took her two days to reach the end of the region, stopping for an extra day of rest in a small snowy village called Nixia. It was quaint and had no more than ten houses and a small fireplace that, contrary to her region, had a very fancy cover to shelter it from the rain, as if it was a religious item to this place.

Uraraka had a reservation in an inn for the night and had been told to sit still while they checked on the rooms and cleaned it for her if necessary. The storm had long faded and the only thing lingering in the air was the frosty scent of the north. She had been given a thick coat at the frontier and a cerulean dagger that had little to no value.

It was still usable for stuff though, like cutting some loose threads that hung from her coat. She sat on a log near the fire, basking in her loneliness. Nobody would dare go out when they could stay inside in the warmth of a fireplace, but Uraraka had nor a home or a fireplace, so she had to wait for her room to be tidied.

She hadn't been given a time or an hour in specific, but she would just go in and ask when it got colder. For now, she just did some minor fixes on her thick coat, sometimes sighing to look at the sky and close her eyes. She felt the snow raining on her skin and the wind moving her tresses. It was a quiet, peaceful night.

The sky was dotted with stars of all colors, bright clouds in the distance where comets would flash occasionally, granting Uraraka the wishes of a shooting star. Sadly, she had no wishes– none that a star could grant, at least. Her eyes reflected the infinity of the sky, and for a second, she allowed herself to close her eyes and get lost in faraway sound of stars clashing and glittering, the vast space and the call of planets to be conquered, like a dancer's tiptoes on a surface of glass.

The sky was big and she was small, yet she felt warm and at home. This planet at the moment was hers to step on, and for once in this lifetime, she felt like the stars and her were in sintony, with them watching her and her staring right back. A small smile, full of nostalgia, spread on her chapped, cold lips.

"I'll be going home soon." she mumbled. The faces of her people flashed right before her, and her eyes fell lidded an inch. In this fight she was enduring alone, she'd make sure to give them all a home once again. A sky of stars, air to breathe and a sea to sail in. "Wait for me a bit more, please. I won't take long."

She spoke as if talking to anybody, but upon inspection, she _was_ alone. A woman sitting by a fireplace, a dagger in her hands and nostalgia written in the stars.

Steps crunched on the snow a few feet away from her. Uraraka's eyes slowly panned to a cloaked figure approaching her. This meeting was too sudden to not be planned or fated. For some reason, it felt weird to think somebody would approach her during her lonely voyage, or that somebody would meet with her tonight in this silent night.

She shed a small smile again. "And who might you be, in this cold night?"

The man took off his hoodie. "I was expecting somebody bigger, at least." Shinsou scoffed, his eyes narrowing at her comfy, round figure. "As he said, here you are. That old man's always making the weirdest of decisions."

It was also strange how she knew so much about this man before her, yet he knew little to nothing about her. Immersed in her own irony, Uraraka giggled. There was no use in fighting this man. "You could say he does. What brings you here? And how did you find me?"

"I was told somebody would come take care of things up here. There aren't many other towns to stay in." the male mage stayed silent for a few seconds. "You seem to know who I am."

She did. "Strange, right?" then, she looked at the fire. Her expression of content didn't change. "You seem to have questions."

"I don't have any my old man can answer. The only thing he couldn't tell me was where you were. He sounded irritated as hell." despite Uraraka having plenty space around her, Shinsou wasn't sitting down. It was a bittersweet metaphor. "Must be irritating to have an associate as disorganized as my father."

Uraraka sighed, not tired, not content, just a release of air. Aizawa not knowing where she was at every second of the day was a new development. It felt weird to not be watched when you realized that, in the past, you had been no more than a watched and looked after puppet.

The sorceress shook her head. "He's not that bad. I don't think he needs me for anything anymore."

And that was good.

That was great.

She smiled again, clasping her cold hands together. The dagger rested on her lap. "Weird, huh? I don't know if those above him can see me, though." she looked at the sky again. The thought of still being watched by the devas struck a mixture of emotions in her. She welcomed the change, as it meant progress, yet was scared of it. "I wonder where he is now."

Shinsou crossed his arms. "He's fine. He's probably messing around with people's brains. Wouldn't be a damn surprise."

She agreed, yet didn't voice her opinion.

Ten seconds of silence later, more snow and more fire, the man spoke again.

"Who are you, exactly?"

At this, Uraraka turned her head. The question was asked with an ominous and accusing voice, not offended, not angry, but as if he _knew_ she hid secrets in that heart and memory of hers. Uraraka could only breathe through her nose and think this answer through, because saying she was just _Uraraka_ didn't cut it anymore.

She exhaled a puff of white air.

"I'm just a hermit sorceress, looking for something she lost once." her voice was far away and distant. "Don't ask where I come from, because I don't really know anymore. Don't ask me where my friends are, because I don't have any anymore. Don't ask what my name is, because that doesn't matter anymore."

Nothing was the same anymore. And while she was happy and glad she was changing things, or at least trying to, she couldn't help but feel nostalgic for the good old days that only she remembered. It made her feel isolated in this planet of a cage.

Shinsou wasn't mesmerized by her answer, and just thought of her as a mysterious warrior that Aizawa had supposedly hand-picked for this journey. "You're the one who got rid of the bridge, didn't you?"

For this, Uraraka had a question. "If I did, may I ask how you got here, then?"

"I'm a sorcerer. My kind is rare to say the least, not even the Council seems to have mages in their fleet." strangely, stating his profession did nothing to change her expression. He blinked at her dagger. "Weird. You don't seem to be surprised."

Uraraka gently smiled at him. "I might have a thousand daggers under my cloak, but I still have the hands of our sinful profession." she spread her fingers downwards and they started melting into water that dropped on the snow, recovering their shape shortly after. "I can't rely solely on my magic. You also have a sword under your cloak, don't you?"

Shinsou hummed in agreement, and the wind blew the hem of his coat up so the handle of his blade shone to the light. It was dyed in a burgundy color with golden streaks cutting across. "Of course I do."

Her eyes blinked in its direction, then back to the fire. "Did you come to kill me with that sword?"

His silence afterwards was leering, and she could feel his stare on her neck. She knew he probably had reasons to slay her now: she was going for the most powerful beast in the country, she had gained his father's favors and she was a mysterious figure. Shinsou was ambitious for power, had some issues with that man and he was impatient regarding what he didn't know.

Uraraka was the perfect capture. But she wouldn't go down without a fight.

Still, despite all those reasons, she knew Shinsou better than to doubt him that much.

"No, I haven't." his sword rested unsheathed. "I'm not that foolish to not know you're not worth fighting against, not when I know I'll leave with a few broken bones. I also have a guild to lead, you know."

Yes, she knew. One hell of a burdening guild, might she add.

Shinsou wasn't sitting down yet. She had a feeling he would never. "You're so small, though. I still got no idea who you are or what you'll get from all this, but I just wanted to see you with my own eyes." he put his hoodie on once more, concealing his identity. "I don't see the point in risking your head this badly, whatever it is for."

Uraraka looked at him with big eyes, no change in her expression yet, as if processing his words. He sighed, deeming her to be impossible, and turned around to walk away.

He only made it two steps away from her before she spoke. When she did, he could barely hear her.

"A home."

The mage turned around. Her hair sheltered her face, which shone under the firelights. "Huh?"

"A home. It's what I'll get at the end of this." her voice cracked a little. Her face turned to his slowly, and a tear had leaked out of her eyes, gleaming in orange flames. "No matter where I meet my end when all this is over, I will get a home."

His eyes narrowed softly at her, almost pitying such humble ambition. "A home, huh?"

Uraraka nodded again, her eyes filling with joy at the thought of living in a new world with her friends. She looked at the fires again, her friends in her mind and suddenly, she didn't feel as lonely anymore. "Regardless of what happens to me, I will have a home again."

The mage away from her felt weirded out about this statement. He couldn't stop himself from asking a blunt question. "How would you even build a home if you die there?"

Shinsou would have expected her to berate him, to slap him with logic and argue with him, get angry, cry, suddenly realize she wasn't right and maybe, just maybe, ask him for help.

Instead, all he got was a silly smile from her.

"It'll be a home where nobody has to suffer anymore. There's more to me than this body, because there's other people who need me too." her smile widened. "I'll build a little big home for everyone, even if it's with my bones. If everyone's happy… what's there to not risk for this home?"

He left feeling that all logic resided in her heart. He couldn't help but wonder what meant so much for her to fight so hard for it.

* * *

"Where the hell did Shinsou go now?" barked Bakugou. His voice was thick with exhaustion, looking out to the sunrise with narrowed eyes, arms crossed.

The guild had just gotten there after secretively packing their things up in the residence, and had walked in to half a guild already on their horses ands ready to part. However, they had been surprised when they realized their savior (but hell be damned before Bakugou admitted to the fact) was not there.

The sun was rising over the horizon. They could see the skyline framed by hills and small houses that dotted the distance. A gray and orange brightened the view, as if welcoming them into their runaway. Yuuei was certain guard were looking for them all over their prison, and it wouldn't take long for them to find everyone if they didn't hurry.

Kendo turned from her horse. A hoodie covered her figure, but the dim sunshine framed her cheekbones and auburn hair, which poked up from beneath the fabric. "Shinsou left early at sunset yesterday, he will join us at the village. He said he had some issues to take care of."

Bakugou let out a 'tch' of indignation. A very expected reaction. Todoroki shifted his unsurprised stare from Bakugou to Kendo. "I thought Shinsou would be escorting us there. What happened?"

Tetsutetsu spoke before Kendo could stammer a response. "Nothing he was willing to tell us, at least. He just told us he was leaving because of a prior engagement, and that he'd see us at our headquarters."

The hunter leader grasped the bridles of his horse tighter. "Don't tell me that little shit wants to go against RampAge on his own…"

From a bit afar, a crouching Monoma who was looking out for guards shook his head. Still, his tone was dripping with a vicious tease. "Oh, don't worry. If you wanna go dig yourself a grave there, Shinsou wouldn't dare rob you of that privilege." Midoriya stopped his mate from hopping off the horse and beating the guy up. The other blonde didn't even flinch. "He didn't take any potions or special gear with him, I doubt he's off to a fight."

Kendo looked down from her horse with a frown. "Didn't Shinsou also tell you to behave for once? Do you want to be dragged around by his horse again?" Monoma almost laughed at the empty threat, but Kendo's large hand fell down and smacked the back of his head. She sighed afterwards. The other guild blinked at the extravagant display. "In any case, that means he must be off to some meeting. He's always been a busy man."

Tokoyami spoke from a bit back, Asui behind him. "Not for the best of reasons anyway." that earned him a chuckle from Bakugou.

At this comment, Monoma did turn around with, for once, not a trace of smugness or animosity. His expression was sort of somber and serious. However, it turned into a half-assed smirk of arrogance shortly after. "I wouldn't be so insulting towards our leader considering he took your sorry asses out of prison. We're the ones with control here, losers."

Nobody from Grinning Blade dared contradict Monoma, nor did Yuuei for that matter, because he was right. And they knew that a step in the wrong direction with them could lead Monoma to run his mouth to the authorities. This once, Yuuei didn't have the winning hand.

Sensing the tension in the air, Kendo tried to get some iron off the topic. "We won't go around telling anybody about this, but we'd rather you were respectful to our leader. He's a good man under his sketchy looks and his weird hobbies."

Midoriya smiled apologetically. "We understand. Thank you so much for this, Kendo. Some of my friends here are pretty nervous about all this."

Bakugou side-glared him. "Oi, who are you callin' scared, you punk?"

Tetsutetsu didn't listen to the argument and instead directed his words to Monoma. "Do you think we're good to go?"

"I'd say so. It's not like they'll find us anytime soon, but it'd be convenient if we left before the main exit got crowded with merchants." Monoma finally got up and walked to Kendo's horse, jumping on it afterwards with a sneer to Yuuei. "Now you better keep quiet, or else we'll have the police on your ass."

A collective growl from the guild was interrupted by Kendo's horse letting out a neigh as she hit it with the bridles, and it started walking down the hill, careful not to make it run down the steep hill. Bakugou's horse caught up with Kendo's quickly, and an endless bickering began between him and Monoma, who wouldn't stop teasing him about this weak moment of his guild.

It was all in good terms.

Hopefully.

A bit behind them, Todoroki looked around him in silence. He seemed to be expecting somebody to come up. This behavior prompted Midoriya to ask. "What's wrong? You seem uptight."

Todoroki stopped his frantic looking and he frowned, deep in thought. "Do you… remember that message? The one in Gunhead's office."

 _You're too late_. _Run away_. Midoriya could remember it clear as day, how the thick rich blood had slowly dripped down the wall, written with almost _care_ that an assassin shouldn't have. He gulped. "Yes, of course. What about it?"

"If you think about it… we're doing as it said. We're running away." stated the knight carefully. "And the person who is helping us run away is…"

Midoriya blinked, his eyes wide as saucers. Then, he looked ahead at Kendo, who had such high praise for her leader. It couldn't be, could it? "Do you think it was him?"

"A part of me thinks he is, but for some reason I don't see why Shinsou would go against a man so powerful. He's ambitious, but he's not stupid." argued Todoroki, shaking his head. "I think something's escaping our grasp, I don't know why. I have had this bad feeling since Shinsou came for us."

"Then who could it be?" frowned Midoriya.

Todoroki looked ahead at his leader. "I don't know but…" he frowned. "I get the feeling something's not quite right with the picture. I think something's escaping us."

Far away from there, the light of a fire faded as a cloaked figure walked away from the snowy village.

* * *

In the faraway lands of the never ending winter up north, Uraraka stood before big crystal doors with embroidered gems that were all too familiar for her to forget. The distinct smell of frost and smoke, the heaving of her hands, the puffs of steam slipping through her lips. It was all too painfully familiar to her.

It only made this easier, yet the fear that had settled in her belly that day, so long ago, it was still there. Many things could have changed– hell, she knew she herself had changed. That feeling, however, had not.

Using her staff, the doors slam open with a speed rare for their weight. The gates seemed too big for her to walk through them alone. Uraraka could still hear the galloping of her people's horses. This time, though, she was alone.

Like a small ant entering the wolf's den, she threaded through the mesmerizing hallway. Her boots hissed against the sand-like ground. Her eyes gleamed under the gems' shine. Her hands marveled at the dropping temperatures, wrapping her fingers around the staff she held tightly.

Then, there it was. The dormant RampAge, slumped over, as if not seeing her.

Uraraka gulped, not knowing where to begin. Last time, she had been wrapped in her friends' protective blankets and sheltered from this silence. Everything had seemed easier back then, having friends to back her up. Knowing that nobody would come for her, no matter how powerful she was, made the silence around her heavier and wider.

But she knew what the deal behind RampAge was. Aizawa had very well said it a few ages ago.

 _"RampAge was born for you to defeat him over and over again, an endless cycle that will never end."_

Ah, those sounded so foreign and faraway now. But she knew now more than ever that they were true. After all, it only felt right she put an end to that monster, like she had done to many, except herself– the one to blame for all this.

This foe before her was only another stone in the river. Thinking of it as more would only lead her into deception.

But the more she looked at it, the more she doubted. How was she supposed to do this? Would this be a fierce battle? She didn't have the cowl she used last time, nor the naïvety that allowed her to throw herself at her enemy. This time, she had to be careful with her body, lest she hurt herself too far.

"For me to defeat, huh?" she spoke out loud. The monster didn't speak.

Uraraka remembered that Bakugou had told her, that fateful night for her to never forget, that his mother had gone against this monster and lost. Uraraka had imagined a fierce battle of screams, blood and magic flying all over the place. It hadn't occurred to her neither back then or back at the original battle that _this_ was RampAge's true nature.

Just a silent, gigantic and dangerous foe that was seemingly doing nothing. Taking advantage of its comatose state, Uraraka summoned her staff and _pounced_ on it with a scream of war.

Some time later, maybe minutes, maybe hours, Uraraka stood before her foe, unkempt and undone with a panting breath and her hands on her quivering knees. The giant before her finally released a screech of terror, tumbled, and fell on his back.

The impact sent the ground under her to a rumble and she had to protect herself from the wave, shielding her body with her arms, closing her eyes as light issued from the collision.

However, it wasn't a blinding light.

It was… a warm, healing light. And from it started to come out dozens, hundreds and thousands of pastel lights that started floating around, glittering under the sun that came from outside the mountain. The beam started to fade slowly and she uncovered her eyes to see the lights coming for her, gently twirling around her with an aura that resembled a child's laughter.

The girl adjusted her hat, breathing ragged, and looked up with parted lips.

The ice that RampAge had left behind was melting into little spirits that floated around her, spinning and rejoicing over their release. Soon after, the spirits shot for the sky outside the mountain and disappeared under the sunshine. The little stars were being released from their jail and letting out little squeals like sprinkling glitter.

However, one of the lights, a red one, floated to her slowly and hovered before her, as if staring. Most lights were gone now and had disappeared, yet a light mist and this spirit in particular remained. It radiated a bit of warmth and had a wild red aura. It was almost familiar.

Uraraka, still stunned for words, confused, walked to it and tried to touch it. The small spirit met her skin and gave her hand a small jolt, strong enough to tickle but not enough to hurt her. Then, it jiggled up and down in glee and floated away with the rest.

Uraraka watched it leave, mesmerized, their laughter fading in the wind. Nothing was left of RampAge but a dim memory and the stars these spirits had left behind.

"That should take care of it."

Uraraka suddenly turned around and was met with a man she was very familiar with. His hands were tucked in his pockets, his eyes just as dead as always, and if she had to guess she'd say he had been there for a while. "What… what was that?"

Aizawa looked up at the small crevices of the mountain through which the spirits had escaped. They were starting to crumble into bigger holes that would soon enough let the full sunshine stream into the empty mountain.

"When I created RampAge, it admittedly got out of control fairly quick. I created it for you to defeat when this place was designed, sure, but before you came here, many other people did pass. It was no more than a vessel, empty and devoid of power. Like a gem with a case too big for it."

Uraraka blinked at him, expecting more on that topic. Aizawa brushed past her and stared at the glittering remains of the monster. Then, he looked up. "With time, it began to collect power, the souls of the people it defeated, until it grew strong enough to call your attention. Until it grew strong enough for it to be worth defeating. It was no more than a graveyard with souls that had died here."

Things still didn't add up. "But I had to do nothing right now. It wasn't that much of a big fight." she talked about it like a jar a cat would just as easily break.

Aizawa wasn't surprised by this. "Nobody said I had to give him more gems to feed from so it remained strong. All it needed was for its casing to be broken, for its power to be spent. And that's what you did."

So… he had helped her? Her eyes widened, at a loss of words, and he started walking away again. He wasn't expecting her to follow, and she didn't. All Uraraka did was stare at him, speechless.

He looked at her over his shoulder, almost smirking. "I told you I was on your side. This place is a drag anyway. It's very boring when you're not shaking your guild up a little. The Jirous are getting impatient." the girl tilted her head, and then, he started walking away again, waving a dismissive farewell at her. "Maybe you should do something about all that and speed things up a little. Got no time to waste."

A few seconds later, he was gone, but she stared at the hallway tough and thorough. Uraraka looked up to the little holes that the spirits had left for. A warm feeling settled in her heart. It was time to set things into motion.

"Do something, huh?"

Maybe they _could_ skip the formalities this time.

They were running out of time.

* * *

"You should stop sulking."

"I'm _not_ sulking."

Shinsou's frown deepened, looking at the other leader from the threshold of the big clock tower balcony. His arms were crossed, judging the leader's posture with scrutinizing eyes. Bakugou was leaning against the railway, his eyes facing the moon in a silence that didn't bode well with Shinsou.

He wasn't barking at him to leave his guild or sending him to the moon with one of his infamous explosions.

He was just silent. He was just quiet.

Shinsou stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Then what's all that pouting for, barbarian?" he walked to his side. Bakugou tensed up. "You're been scowling at the air ever since we got here. Was that guy that much of a big deal?"

Again, the mage would have expected him to scream at him to back off and mind his own business, but far from that, he only sighed and frowned as if annoyed, but not livid as one would come to expect from Bakugou. "That ain't it, you nitwit."

"Then? What's up now?" when he was met with immediate silence, Shinsou grew impatient. "I'm trying to be civil here, be a bit thankful for my time, you-"

"Will you stop spitting bullshit?" that shut the other up. "RampAge was a big deal. I ain't happy about letting that beast loose but…" then, a sigh, and he was looking at the moon again with a weirdly soft look. "Something has changed."

Shinsou arched an eyebrow. "Explain that."

Bakugou's shoulders heavened at the prospect of explaining himself. He never did well when trying to open up and be sort of earnest with how he felt. He was known for being a bit of a heartless asshole and for the sake of his reputation he'd rather let it be that way. However, that mattered little now considering how he felt.

"I don't know, something has changed. Got no idea how to explain it, but something's different in the air." breeze blew at Bakugou's hair. "It feels lighter. It feels better now."

Shinsou hummed. He'd be damned if he made fun of Bakugou's honesty, so he chose to respect it. He followed the blond's eyes to the moon. "Come to think about it, it does feel different from when we first left."

"Does it?"

"Yeah." Shinsou closed his eyes, as to feel it better. "It just doesn't feel as heavy anymore. Like a weight's off from it."

Yes, that was the feeling. Bakugou felt weird talking about it. It wasn't everyday that he was _that_ perceptive, but if he were to say, perhaps the Capital had changed his perception of reality. The weird dark vibes he got from that place had been too harsh to be dismissed, and while he wanted to say that this 'lack of weight in the air' was just a result from leaving the Capital, it just didn't feel right.

The air felt different. And he was right Shinsou could feel it, too, no matter how much Bakugou hated his guts.

"It might be because Gunhead's gone now. That guy wasn't good news." Bakugou wanted to chuckle, but he'd never let Shinsou know he was the tiniest bit of fun. "You better watch out, though. The Council might come here for you soon. Don't sleep around."

"Oi, like hell we'd let those fuckers catch us."

"Just telling you not to relax under this renewed air. I get the feeling it's far from over yet." Bakugou was about to protest before Shinsou yawned and stretched his arms up. "In any case, we're gonna move out now. I just came here to tell you I was leaving."

Bakugou smirked, tsking. "Finally got tired of being under our superior wing, Shinsou?"

"Not really. It's just that this place reeks ego. The air's just getting heavier from being around you."

The blond growled. "Shut the fuck up."

Shinsou ignored his comment and stretched his arms back. "Whatever. I'll get going now." he wanted to offer him a hand to shake to finish their successful operation, but Shinsou doubted Bakugou would ever 'steep so low' to shake hands with somebody that had saved his ass. "If the tournament at the Capital is held, we'll see each other there. I bet I'll get to soften your ego a little bit there."

Bakugou looked back to finally look at Shinsou with a defiant smirk, and a moment after, he offered his hand up– not to conclude their cooperation but to start a new competition. "I'll make you kiss my feet for mercy."

The other man chuckled and stepped back to shake his hand. Bakugou's grip was fierce. "Don't say I didn't warn you, barbarian."

After that, they curtly nodded at the other and Shinsou left. However, Bakugou didn't want to leave yet. He remained on the balcony, looking at the moon aimlessly. His eyes would dart around, spotting stars and looking at the clouds with a distant gaze. He tried to count them, hoping he'd find distraction and eventually feel sleepy. The twinkling lights of the town dotted his vision with a mystical silence.

As he was counting the stars and seeing clouds drift by in the silence of the night when his eyes drifted to a faraway tower of his guild's wall. A figure was standing on the summit of the ceiling of the tower, grabbing the blowing flag for support. It was facing him most definitely, and something was blowing behind them.

He didn't know that figure, but Uraraka knew him well.

She had been observing him for a while, sitting before and now opting to stand up as she decided to approach him. Her eyes were decided, looking at him with a weakening resolve (because unlike before, they were alone now, and they had so, _so_ much more time now). She couldn't see him quite well but she knew he was looking at her with increasing animosity, wondering who she was.

Before he could even breathe a curse she was hopping all along the walls of the tower with leaps of a bunny, barely making any noise, before she landed right before him in a mess of cloak and uniform folds. Bakugou watched her land, mesmerized, and she straightened her posture with a hand on her hoodie hat.

Her eyes barely peered from under the hem. "It's been some time, hasn't it?"

God, that sounded awful. Maybe Uraraka looked cool outside,but she was a mess of nerves and her heart was in shambles at this point. It had been so long since she last saw this man it almost felt weird to stand there and attempt to talk to him as if no time had passed. For her, it had been a lifetime full of memories in which he had become somebody dear for her.

For him, she was no more than a shadow that had saved his life and possibly attempted a terrorist attack a bit ago. The title of 'terrorist' would be fitting now.

Bakugou, however, didn't answer. He was almost, dare she say, _stunned_ to see her there. He either was shocked to see a stranger slip into his guild, shocked to see _her_ or just thinking of what to do. She wanted to think he'd know better than to attack her, seeing all she had done not so long ago.

But Uraraka also knew they were pretty much on par fighting-wise. She didn't want to fool around.

Bakugou was still standing still, so she tried to take some lead off the air. "Here I was thinking this meeting would be a lot smoother when I thought about it… it's been so long since we last saw each other. It feels like a century."

Then, Uraraka grabbed the ends of her hoodie and pushed the fabric to fall on her shoulders, revealing unkempt hair under a springing hat and sparkling yet tired eyes underneath. She had been travelling for a long time before getting here. The mage shot him an uncertain smile of contentment he had no answer to.

"It's good to see you again, Bakugou."

For this, he had a question she hadn't expected, asked so lowly Uraraka almost thought he was getting ready to attack her. "How do you know my name?"

Bakugou thought maybe she knew him because of his badass reputation and his guild's notoriety, but she gave a more ominous vibe than to even consider meaningless things like title.

Suddenly, she took a step forward, and for some reason, Bakugou didn't back off, only stared at her and flinched when she was within personal grounds. Uraraka didn't plan to answer him. "You still look the same. You're still as rude as ever, I bet."

Bakugou frowned. "Oi, what the hell do you mean by that?"

The girl wanted to smile. She would have if it hadn't been for the tacky situation they were in, how this would very likely be the last time they would ever see each other. Uraraka would have liked to visit other people as well, but she couldn't pluck up enough courage to do that. After all, she had barely got herself together to face Bakugou.

She didn't know what she'd even tell them, or how she'd even explain her presence. She thought they'd be ignorant to the issue.

Somehow, it felt like Bakugou would either hide from it or fight it. A reaction was all she needed as a farewell memento.

Her hand shakily reached for his chiseled cheek and that was when his hand snatched her wrist and accidentally pushed her closer until he was looking down at her. Uraraka recalled being in a similar position with him forcefully holding her like this, but the context was ironically different. "What are you trying to pull?"

If circumstances had been different she would have grinned at him. "Oh, so you know who I am?"

"It's hard to forget the face of a terrorist. You were quite on our face at the Capital." so he _did_ consider her that, huh. "Again, what the fuck are _you_ doing here?"

Uraraka managed to stay cold and collected. Barely. His touch still made butterflies erupt in her body and her heart writhed at the thought that this was terribly one-sided. Moments like these made her doubt and wonder if she could stay here with them and ride this timeline into the sunset before its last chance was purged.

She had after all said she'd do this alone, right? The promise had been broken. She wondered if she could manage to slip into the guild and try to live there again.

But she also knew that making things messier would only make the last fight more difficult. Instead of giving in and explaining, she wiggled her hand out of his hold. His snatch had made her snap into focus again. "I'm not here to attack you or hurt you."

Bakugou's eyes narrowed, fierce and red. "What's the deal then? Who says you aren't somebody from the Council to take us back to jail? Who says you haven't been following us in their stead?"

Of course he'd think that, because it made sense. In a way, Uraraka was responsible for them being accused, and as much as she felt glad it had served its purpose and they had been held back from facing RampAge, she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. That wasn't the point of her visit, though.

"I'm not here for anything in particular." she blinked, holding her hands to her chest, numb fingers caressing her wrist. "I'm here to say goodbye."

As she had expected, that earned no significant reaction from him. She pretended her heart didn't shake at that and that her throat didn't tighten. "Goodbye? Why the hell would I care? You can go die in a lake for all I care."

Fuck, of course he would say that. She pursed her lips, and then tried to shed a small forced smile. "Of course. It's stupid, isn't it?"

He didn't dare answer that, for words had been caught in his throat. Instead, he chose to wait and let her unravel. It didn't look like she'd last much more.

With her hands on her chest still, she indeed did unravel, but not in the mess of tears she had come to expect from herself upon seeing him. Instead, she stood her ground. Uraraka ignored the writhing of her heart, her wobbling legs and pushed forward. Maybe he didn't know who she was, maybe he didn't care.

But she _did_. And she had a few things to tell him before things were finally over.

"I know you don't give a damn or that… you don't know me. Of course, you don't." she said those last words as if to mentalize herself of the fresh, cold, hard truth. "But… I know things. I know things are about to happen and… I think you should go meet him before I lose all courage, you know?"

What was she even talking about? The look he was giving her made it seem he had no clue what she was talking about. The wall between them was only getting thicker.

"You… you guys are looking for the head of the Jirou mafia, aren't you? At this point, Kyouka must have left already to meet them…" mumbled Uraraka, gritting her teeth and looking out to the horizon as if she'd spot the hunter somewhere. "I know where their lair is."

At this, Bakugou blinked and shook his head. "You _what_!?"

"But that's not-"

The hunter finally stepped to her again and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her a little as if in a hurry. "You gotta tell us where that is! If we do that, we'll probably get the Council off our hair!"

The girl flinched at his hard grasp and tried to wiggle out of it, whining. "That doesn't matter!"

His fingertips dug into the fabric of her sleeves. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean!? It doesn't matter to you but it does to us!"

In his agitation, his hold weakened and Uraraka shook out of his deathlock. "I'm telling you the Jirous don't matter! Whatever you find in that lair isn't the biggest menace you got in this planet, in this time, whatever that is!" at this, Bakugou seemed to sort of stop fuming and actually listen, much to Uraraka's pleasure.

He actually seemed pleased with taking on a bigger foe, for he thought they could reel in a bigger fish and still get the Council off their lives. "And what would that be?"

The girl sighed, and looked at him decisively. "In the center of the forest there's a giant lake that will very probably be frozen by the time you get there…" her eyes stared off to the moonlit sky, eyes getting almost watery. She took a step closer to him, hands itching to hold his to transmit the love and warmth she so desperately wanted him to feel again. "Things are only getting weaker faster and faster… it's only a matter of time this place stops existing altogether. In that lake, there's a man who will be to blame for all this– or the only part of this mess that can be defeated."

Bakugou's eyebrows, once more, knit in confusion. "A lake? What the hell are you talking about? Are you high?" Uraraka didn't seem the least fazed by his behavior, only blinked as if she hadn't even heard his question to begin with. This chick was so weird… what the hell was she there for?

His confusion was only growing the more she stared at him. She gazed up at him with a feeling he couldn't quite describe, giving off airs of knowing more than he did and that alone made him feel _furious_. She was speaking with an authority he had never seen before. Her eyes told more stories than her soft words ever would.

Bakugou had never been overcome with the simultaneous need to kick somebody out but also want to make them sit down and tell him their story. The fact that she knew so much and had come so far so suddenly irritated him beyond control, and he would undoubtedly snap soon if she didn't stop being ambigue soon.

But instead of coming clean, she only gazed up at him with a mixture of tenderness and infinite sadness that had him motionless at his feet for some reason. Her voice came out soft, and just as ambigue as before.

"I thought I'd be able to do it in silence on my own but… I guess I'd rather if you were there with me again, in that place." her head tilted slightly to a side. Bakugou was almost hypnotized, gazing into her eyes. "I hoped things would be easier if I just stayed away. I guess what they gave me was a curse in disguise."

What the hell was she talking about and why wasn't he kicking her out like he did with all strangers that dared trespass his threshold? And why wasn't he barking at her proximity but rather, welcoming it?

In fact, when she lifted up her hand again, he didn't stop her. Her hand landed on his cheek, and he allowed that, too.

"You look just the same as ever. No matter how much time passes nothing ever changes." at that, his heart… _throbbed_. Painfully. As if her words resonated within him when his mind was just telling him to pull away like a wolf growling at a prey. But she continued with her thing, as if talking to herself or a picture hanging from a wall. "No matter how much time passes, it's still the same you."

Of course he was. No matter the lifetimes that passed or the years that went by, Uraraka knew they'd always manage to find each other. This time, she had had the blessing of having memories of all that had happened, but she was certain that they'd somehow manage to meet again when this was over.

What she wasn't so sure of was if she'd be there to meet him, unlike other times. Her hold on his cheek tightened a notch. "Sure things have changed now."

But they were still there. It was just the same Katsuki she once knew.

While in her deep thinking and gazing into his wine eyes, she failed to notice them getting slightly glossy. A second later, a tear rolled down his cheek and landed on her palm, making her flinch, starting to withdraw her hand.

Before her fingerpads could leave his skin, a rough hand pulled it back to its place, holding her hand in a tight grasp that made her eyes widen like saucers. Bakugou was holding her hand in place, almost leaning into it with a conflicted expression of both regret and confusion. Why did he suddenly need her touch and why had it made him shake that she'd leave him again?

Wait, _again_?

Uraraka gulped, her eyes still wide as she witnessed him somehow not letting her go. It felt like an ulterior force was forcing him to make her stay. Uraraka, vulnerable as she was, couldn't deny him.

"Katsuki." she didn't call out for any name. She called out for his _real_ name. And it seemed to reach him, for his eyes temporarily shifted to hers, and it made her almost smile. Almost, but not quite. "What's wrong?"

That was a good question, what in the world was wrong with him and why was he acting like this? Why was he becoming increasingly aware that she was about to leave _again_ , whatever that meant? Why did he suddenly feel terrified of her doing so, when he had never been scared of a damn thing in his life, or rather, just never wavered this way?

He couldn't find it in him to answer, and Uraraka was too stunned to figure it out. A part of her wanted to hope timelines had weakened enough for the true, old and brazen Katsuki she had once come to know in a gray village with an orange house in the rain.

Her heart fluttered, either for the pain or for the giddiness, she couldn't tell. But all she knew was that she was glad to see this man again, and that this was the last time they'd very likely see each other.

From this moment on, they'd be no more, because she wouldn't be there to welcome him into her arms again.

It was over.

She tried to let him go, but he just _wouldn't_. His expression was just as torn and he was clinging as much as before. "Katsuki… I have to go. Before it's too late."

It seemed like the mission at hand, the information she had shared and the ammo of tragedies she had announced were being forgotten by him. Bakugou refused to let her go, not because he wanted to cling or because he wanted to show affection– but because a part of him knew that if she left now, he wouldn't see her again, not this time.

Bakugou didn't actively know this person, but they were calling a name buried deep within him and he didn't have it in him to let her go ever again.

Suddenly, a name slipped past his lips like a whimper. "Ochako…" and the next part just rolled out. "don't go."

Uraraka's hands froze in his hold, she could swear his cheek was freezing under his cheek. Those words… her world moved, spun, made her feel breathless and all she wanted to do now was wrap him into a hug and sob her heart out, because after timelines, ages, decades, centuries and years without him, they had found each other in the end.

But they had been too late. The original lovers had found the warmth of love too late into the tragedy, and she knew she had to go. Right after finding him, the true him, the man she had originally hurt and _killed_ , she couldn't stay ever again. She lost that right long ago.

A small tear trickled down her round cheek with a sad smile he failed to see. "I'm so happy to see you again, Katsuki." and she meant it. Because it felt like they were talking to each other after that fateful battle in the muddy rain and the bleak fog. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I..."

God, they had met again. After the pain, the grieving and the darkness… Uraraka let out a choked continuation. "Everything will be okay. I promise everything… it will be fine. We will see each other again. It's a promise."

But it was a promise she didn't know if she would keep. It was promise she most likely wouldn't keep. For their sake.

He didn't answer. He just held on to her tighter like he should have in the past, clinging to her to compensate for the lack of warmth he had provided that night. It suddenly felt like he was too old for this body and like his spirit was no more than ash. He felt… _weak_. Tired. It had been a long journey to reach her.

It turns out he had come visit her when she was getting ready to set off.

His eyes meekly met hers between closed eyelids, as if unsure if he should trust her promise, for he was so tired, in such need for closure. But she could see that his eyes flickered in emotion, they seemed trusting, and his hold tightened. He believed her.

They would meet again. It was a promise.

The fact that he trusted her only broke her heart once more.

Uraraka's voice came once more, weak. But it'd be the last time. "I will make things right. The time's coming to a close. Everything has happened as it should have and…" her throat constricted when he still didn't let her go. "the time for the final battle will come soon."

Bakugou's lips let a small sob slip through, but no tears were shed. Instead, his trembling fingers held her hand hostage against his cheeks like a man hanging on for his life. As if she was his lifeline. Which, in a way, she was. Because she'd be the one to make things right again.

Her eyes closed and her head bowed down a little begging for forgiveness for the pain he was inflicting in him who had done nothing to deserve this. "I hope you can forgive me someday, Katsuki."

She tried to slip her hand off his grip but his weakening grip held her in place. His eyes were now facing her, trembling when he found her to be smiling through the pain and the heartbreak to say goodbye for the last time. Unshed tears made her lashes gleam under the clean moonlight.

With her other hand, she smeared a little bit of narcoleptic on his neck as she tiptoed to make their foreheads meet, her smile still soft as she felt his stance weaken little by little. His eyes were still looking at her when they started to lid close, with her smiling through it all, swallowing the tears. "I love you, Katsuki. Forgive me for this."

Those ironic words were last ones he heard before he slumped on her, head lolling on her shoulder and her arms catching his strong frame in something similar to an embrace that she didn't allow herself to dwell into. This timeline had repeated itself as it had been fated, with its changes and its tweaks, and the time for the final show was coming close.

She had no time to lose. Uraraka gently knelt down and let him sit on the floor, wall on the railway. His serene slumber expression was shadowed by the moonlight, and she pulled some of his bangs back. It wasn't the first time she abandoned him while he slept. It would certainly be the last.

Then, she got up and as she had come, gritting her teeth, Uraraka left with the wind, leaping from ceiling to ceiling into the night,

"Heaven, please forgive me for hurting him one last time." her words were carried with the wind.

Uraraka was gone from his hold. Instead, in his hand lay a single sunflower.

* * *

In a far away corner of the country, Uraraka curled into her spare blankets in a forgotten cave and weeped in remorse into her hands, tears cascading down her cheeks at the thought that the day after would be the last for her. At the thought that her existence would no longer be real. That she would miss making so many memories with her people, would miss her friends, and would probably spend the next centuries crying to herself when the moon rose.

For the last time, she wished none of this had ever happened. That no vendettas had happened, and that she had kept her sorrow to herself instead of killing all those she loved. But she couldn't help but finally realize that the wrought in her heart was plenty of a benevolent punishment for the hell she had caused.

Far away from her, somebody cried, too.

"I'm sorry." she looked at her hands, curled inches away from her chest. Then, she tucked them close to her heart. "I won't be able to keep our promise."

* * *

Thunder and rain were all that existed now in this battlefield of a planet. Aizawa had his arms bent on his back, a distant look gracing his eyes as he looked out to the dead landscape that extended over the Foehn mountains. Rain was starting to drip in this barren place, consumed by ice and the dryness of the dessert.

His eyes were calm. Any stranger would have thought he wasn't aware of the world ending today. If anything, he looked more at ease than ever, knowing his task was done. He just had to wait and things would slowly unravel if it all went according to plan. Aizawa wasn't certain of what would happen next yet he wasn't as annoyed or peeved as he thought he'd be.

Soon enough, he heard footsteps coming his way. Just as he had expected.

The giant gates slammed open by none other than Bakugou, whose soles were close to steaming with the brutality he applied in that kick. Midoriya trailed close behind, as did the whole guild with a somber quietness Aizawa had _not_ anticipated. What he did see, though, was that the determination and confidence they had come in during prior times was gone.

Aizawa was sure this was none other than _her_ doing. "Looks like you're here. What brings you to my home?"

Bakugou didn't have any plans to answer anything, for he knew very little himself. He didn't know _how_ his man was linked to the Jirous, how he was the cause of all this, but he knew the girl from the night before had been right when she said the world would freeze over, and that Kyouka would have ran away.

Just those random but right predictions and her past saving their asses told him enough.

Upon Uraraka's revelations of how they knew nothing, Bakugou and the rest felt like no more than puppets in a play and he felt burning curiosity as to why it was like this. "Who are you?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow that was met with no reaction. They seemed way more apprehensive than ever before. "Oh? I thought you came here for a reason." but because they hadn't, he didn't receive an answer. His expression became serious, almost sour. "I'm no more than an employee, a messenger if you will. I believe you're looking for me."

But… were they?

"We were told to come here. And that you were the one to blame for all this." spoke Todoroki from the back. Unlike the rest, he had unsheathed his sword and was ready to fight. His eyes were squinted in concentration. "You must be their leader, aren't you?"

Aizawa almost rolled his eyes and that alone made some start getting tense. "The Jirous should be the least of your problems. Trust me something worse than that is coming."

The ambiguity of his words made Bakugou growl slightly. It was just like last night, or the bits he could remember at least, had been filled with vague words and brief touches, and the rest was no more than a blur. In fact, when he woke up, he had been lying on the floor with a flower in his hand and concerned peers looming over him.

All he knew was that they had to hurry up and leave. He recalled stuff about things starting to unravel faster and worse, and that they had to leave before they got caught up in the whirlwind.

But, above all, he remembered that they _had_ to be there.

At the prospect of not being met with answers, Bakugou was getting tired. "Listen up, loser, we got no time for this! What the fuck do you have to do with all this?"

Aizawa knew they were asking important questions, but at this point of the story he couldn't be bothered to answer. He just looked out the window. "She should be here soon I guess." then, he looked at the increasingly impatient bunch of kids he had in his household. "What are you gonna do? Pound answers outta me? I can assure you whatever stuff you want doesn't matter. It never did. Just sit still like a good boy."

The hunter leader was about to go beat the crap out of him before Kirishima stopped him. Midoriya stepped to the front. "We aren't going to repeat ourselves. Whatever is happening around us is your doing, isn't it?" he took out his gleaming sword and held it out in his direction. "We don't know what you're doing this for, but we have been told to stop you, and so we will."

That was weird. And untrue. "Oh, but have you? Did she _directly_ tell you to come stop whatever I'm doing?"

Midoriya's stance faltered, blinking. "What else would she tell us to come here for?"

"Oh, you're so naïve." Aizawa's dead eyes blinked in Bakugou's direction. "What about you, Bakugou? Don't you know anything? You're the one who met with her, after all."

Bakugou frowned. "Don't point fingers at me, old man." he crossed his arms, as if defensive, but he still answered his claims. "All I know is that she came to me and started speaking super fast about some stuff. I barely remember anything but…"

But he knew who she was. He could recall her face, except her eyes, and the clear tone of her voice. Perhaps if he saw her again, he'd know who she was. Maybe after this was over, he could thank her for leading the way.

Little did he know.

His hand landed on his chest. "I just feel she was right on the money."

Kirishima arched an eyebrow, weirded out by his friend's uncanny care and faith. "Weird that only you and this guy seem to know who this _she_ is. Who are you even talking about?"

Aizawa frowned, waiting for Bakugou to answer. The young man was at a loss of words, because really, who was she and _why_ did he feel so faithful to her words even when her presence had been no more than that of a shadow?

The man looked back at his redhead friend. "No idea. I barely remember her face but… it's a feeling I got. I don't know who she is or what she was doing there, but I just knew we had to come here."

Midoriya frowned. "Wait, we just came here because you _got a feeling_? You said it was more than that!"

The blond gritted his teeth, eyes closed because he knew he hadn't been the brightest when he ordered everyone to get up and start packing so suddenly, but this gut feeling had been too strong to ignore, as if fate and the universe were forcing him to move, as if it was beyond his control.

"I know, but look all around you! It ain't like I was mistaken!"

True to that. The world had started freezing over the moment they stepped out of the village, trees and walls and houses meshing and melting into one as timeline mistakes consumed the land they walked on. They had freaked out and ran for their lives in the direction Bakugou had pointed at, track during which he had been silent and focused unlike ever before.

They knew better than to say he hadn't been right, but nobody but him and Aizawa seemed to know what was going on. The blond, when seeing everyone was silent, looked back at Aizawa with an angered look. "Listen, old man, we haven't come here to the ends of the world for chitchatting. You're the one behind all this, ain't ya?"

The man loosely looked out the window. Oh, if only they knew. If only they knew they were just being used as pieces moved in a chessboard. "You could say that I'm involved, in a way."

He wasn't admitting it. He wasn't denying it, either. That was enough for them.

"Then that means we just gotta get rid of you so things are right again!" grinned the man, taking out his cursed sword as the rest readied their weapons, too. He could feel Asui readying her magic runes and Yaoyorozu unsheathing her elegant sword. It was practically an army of angry people against one man.

What could possibly go wrong?

Aizawa stayed silent. Even though he sometimes had cursed at Uraraka's naïvety, he couldn't deny that these people's brazen behavior was getting on his nerves even worse than she did. With luck, she would swing by soon.

Midoriya pointed his sword at Aizawa. It was surrounded by orange flames and Aizawa could almost see a reflection on it. "We're taking our world back! You will soon be no more!" he said confidently. A small crashing noise was heard closeby. "We aren't the number one guild for nothing!"

With that, Aizawa assumed he should be scared. He admitted that some of these people looked scary, some downright terrifying and others just not fierce enough to hurt a fly. Had these been different circumstances and he would have felt menaced enough to take out his sword. He was a jobless man, no profession, no profile, but he was enough of a man to know how to wield a weapon and how to murder with it.

For once, he didn't know what would happen, for she had changed the static course of everything in this world. And that _excited_ him in a weird, convoluted and confusing way.

Aizawa brought his hand to his scarf, and the other to a sword he had sheathed on his back this morning. He took the sword out and pointed it at them. If they were going to crash and burn together, at least they'd all die with honor. Her just had to come by so she crashed with them.

"Very well, then." Aizawa crooked his sword a little, earning a snicker from Bakugou. "Let's see what you all can do against my sword!"

And with that, the guild just _charged_ towards him. Unlike other enemies, Aizawa was just one man with a sword and probably good sorcery abilities he was concealing, and they needed little strategy against one sole man. In this case, Bakugou trusted they could beat him with sheer brute force, and that's what they'd do until they beat this guy to a pulp.

Both parties were throwing themselves at each other, jumping in the air with screams of war and rage.

However, right before their weapons clashed, a tremendous beam of lightning struck between them through the roof, destroyed it, and hit the ground with such force it created a soundwave strong enough to push both parties away from each other. It sent everyone to the floor and to the walls, a deaf impact reaching their ears as the earth trembled under their feet.

Bakugou landed on the ground with a grunt of pain at the sudden interruption– the battle hadn't even begun yet, what the hell was going on? The sky around them outside the fortress had turned into a fierce noisy storm of thunder and lightining. "What the fuck!?"

And from the hole jumped a smaller figure with a very familiar cloak and set of colors that blew in the wind and hit the floor with her boots with a strength that sent waves around her, making those getting up tumble down again. A clap was heard as the girl clasped her hands together then slammed them on the cracked floor beneath them.

A familiar seal shone under her feet in a circle, light issuing from her and the lines carved into the stone. Before her, Aizawa watched her come in with a mixture of awe and surprise. "Sorry, I can't let you continue this fight." Uraraka looked over her shoulder with a small smile, straight on her feet. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. But I can finally give this a proper ending thanks to you."

"Hah!?" coughed the blond leader from behind, then when he caught glimpse of her hair and cheeks, he gasped and frowned. "It's you! What the fuck are _you_ doing here!?"

Todoroki's voice came from a side. "Wait, that's-?"

"Yeah!" the man tried to get up again, but something was pushing him down again. "It's her! That's the damn girl from the Capital _and_ last night!"

"I'm surprised you made it here this early, Uraraka. I thought you would have ran away by now." spoke Aizawa. He didn't even try to get up, for he knew he wouldn't be able to. "I guess birds of the same feather flock together, huh? You still haven't changed."

But to this, Uraraka had something to say. "That's not exactly true." the seal under her feet let out a beam of glow, and her hair started to float. "Many things have changed. I'd say there has been a change of plans."

The guild could only watch this girl talk casually (albeit not truly as casual as it could sound) to the ultimate villain of this planet as if they were buying milk. The feeling of being manipulated and played with only increased upon realizing only those two people knew what was truly going on. Bakugou couldn't help but feel betrayed once more, and so did everyone else.

"A change of plans?" asked Aizawa, an eyebrow quirked. His eyes loosely went to her seal circle. "And what would that…"

His voice trailed off, eyes widening a notch and eyebrows sinking to a slight realizing frown. Uraraka's hands balled into fists, and she adjusted her hat with a solemn grimace.

"I was once told the world is based around the idea of giving, taking, destroying and creating. Around the idea of destroying to create something new." her hands glowed. "I think we're well over those steps. Or, at least, I'm tired of those rules."

Aizawa tried to raise a hand, and pointed a finger to her spell circle. Before, that circle had been a glowing mess of runes and signs embedded to the floor with lines shooting from the mage outwards to the world. Before, those lines had shot from her and jailed the world with its light, like a sun wrapping the world in a hug with its beams.

However, it was different this time. There were no lines taking over the world and destroying the ice. There were smaller lines that were slowly inching from the circle _inwards_. The little tiny hands were starting to wrap around Uraraka's knee and slowly inching off the ground, wobbling, to take her middle finger of her both hands.

This was _not_ how things were supposed to go. "What in the world are you doing?"

"What…" Yaoyorozu's voice came in a stammer. "What is _that_?"

The question was repeated by some more. Uraraka heard Midoriya ask that as well, but Bakugou remained silent as he saw the lines take over her body slowly, wrapping around her, as if attempting to suck her in.

"I used to believe this world had no other purpose but for it to be destroyed. It used to be either you, me, or the future who would do it." she spoke. "I walked a long path. I met new people. I realized there's so much more to this world than just its ground. This place… it still needs to live a bit more than I bargained for."

The little arms and hands glowed in warning and Uraraka fell to her knees and, for some reason, everyone in the guild wanted to reach out to her, because something within them was screaming for them to help her. But both the overwhelming gravity and their confusion stopped them.

For some reason, they trusted what she was saying. She spoke of a salvation they all needed, and they couldn't care about the costs right now even when those were starting to become clear as the magic encircled her in a vicious lock.

"My mission once was… to give shelter to my friends. To save them from this fate I created." Uraraka chuckled humorlessly. "I have to get them out of here. No matter the costs. I should have known better than to believe that destroying them and this world with me saving myself was the way out of it. Death was not a way of sparing."

She coughed.

"It was me being selfish."

Aizawa stared at her in silence. He could feel a very light tremble under his legs. He was sure the rest could feel it too, hence their unkempt expressions. "What's the coin of change then, Uraraka?"

She winced and dared look behind her. There, she saw her friends, and a man she deemed to be dear to her but who had very probably forgotten about _her_ and their promise. He wasn't her man, anymore, and she was just an annoying bitch he used to know.

Their expressions were of fear and confusion, but she was sure they would be happy wherever they went, even if it was without her. They would be okay again. They wouldn't have to suffer her sins anymore.

With a closed eye, in pain, she grinned at Aizawa. "Isn't it obvious?"

Accompanied with strength that almost bordered sadism, she slammed her hands hard on the ground, making the arms tighten around her as the ground under them started to break. Unlike before, though, the cracks weren't filled with the darkness of an abyss full of death and despair. Instead, they were full of a blueish, soft light.

From above her from the hole she craved in the ceiling started to come a soft beam of light. Midoriya tried to scramble away from the blinding lights. "What the hell is that? Is… is the world truly about to-"

"No." came a soft reply from Asui, who was calmly sitting, waiting for this storm to pass, a sif unaware of the shaking. "This light is not a force of destruction, ribbit. It's… a healing light." she blinked, her eyes sparkling as she looked directly into the gentle light. The storm was slowly fading away from them. She could almost hear birds chirping as the quaking grew more intense. "The sun… it's being reborn."

The warmth of the light hit Uraraka on the back of her neck as the world started to reset itself. As her vital energy started leaking away from her, she could feel all souls returning to their owners, all monsters being set in peace, the ice all around the world melting under her fingers. The world was in the palm of her hand.

"Instead of giving my all to destroy everything around me…"

Then, the gentle light grew, grew, parted the clouds and invaded the world. The rain… it wasn't raining anymore, anywhere.

She was glad she saw them one last time.

"I'll destroy myself to make the world be reborn again."

The circle around her flashed with a blinding light.

* * *

Black was all she was met with once more, but this time, she knew it wasn't the pitch black of a gloomy, deserted and barren world, devoid of any life– she knew it was the darkness of being held hostage, away from the world she had created. Or maybe that world didn't exist yet.

All she knew was that she had something to say. Something to do, yet. She had sacrificed her life, so why was she still alive? The world around her spun in silence, black on top of black and on top of something so much more darker and deeper than one could ever imagine.

Could her current state of existence be called a _life_ , even?

She stood still.

Waiting.

Uraraka didn't like waiting. But she still did. She didn't know how long it took, how long she stayed there in the darkness, silence around her and her memories weighing down on her unlike ever before, moreso memories of her friends and what she had sacrificed for them. But there was no way she would ever regret what she did. Things had changed, and she didn't wish for her to move if the world depended on it-

rather, she preferred to let the world move and leave her behind, just like it should have those many timelines, ages and centuries ago. Suddenly, Uraraka felt very old. The prospect of aging to a skinless skeleton in this dark attic of a land didn't sound as bad as it should. If she were to rot there instead of being met with the everlasting silence all dead people dealt with, she wouldn't speak against it.

Perhaps Uraraka hadn't garnered enough trust from those up above her who were, undoubtedly, watching her.

A fickle hum escaped her lips, and she sat down like one who waits for a cart to take her home. It had always been a matter of waiting, after all.

Then a voice. "So, you did it in the end, huh?"

Uraraka would have been surprised before. Not anymore. "You seem surprised. I thought you had all planned out and knew exactly what steps I'd be taking." retorted the girl.

"But you still waited for us to enlighten you, didn't you?" oh, she had. She had been waiting for the stars to guide her for so long. So much so she would sit out at night and pray for her sorrow to end, for somebody to show her the way. She didn't want to destroy anymore. She just wanted to find a way home.

Uraraka remained silent, biting her inner cheek. It wasn't like she felt guilty or anything, but their words sounded chiding enough to make her shut up. But no matter how much pressure they put on her, she wouldn't give in anymore. The sorcerer was certain she had done the right thing.

"Why did you do that? How foolish can you be to sacrifice your vessel of a body for people who have wronged you in the past?" this voice was different, yet almost a hiss of confusion. Had Uraraka known better and she would have thought she had gone against their plans by doing something good. But she knew that voice. She had heard it before.

It was utter and isolated confusion

"Isn't it obvious?" she answered. "Those who wronged me… I already got rid of them. That's something I can't change, can I?" no, she couldn't. She was met with the expected silence. "If I had a chance to let them live again without the wrongs those stupid people did, then maybe things would be different. I wish I hadn't met them with these chains you put on me weighing me down so badly."

"You're saying it as if you didn't do anything wrong in the past."

Uraraka sighed. "What can I say? It's rained long enough since them. It was time that storm stopped. It wasn't their fault. This planet wasn't to blame for the sins of those I called family and allies. Or _my_ sins, for that matter."

But she knew she couldn't shield herself with that truth, because it wasn't a full truth. Ochako had killed those she loved in a very uncharacteristic fit of rage. Frankly, the rage could be justified. Killing those she loved? Absolutely not. Perhaps that was one of the things she hated the most about this situation. She was disappointed with her true, past self.

"So, you're happy with this outcome?"

"Can't say I'm happy about not seeing what I have created. A new timeline should have begun, without the worn out edges you guys created with your over and over recreation and… without me." as she said that, she brought her hand to her chest. She could almost feel the pain under her fingertips. "Maybe that's for the best."

Then… there was silence. It wasn't a necessarily bad type of silence. It was rather calm and comfy. However, knowing that she had time and time to ask all questions to her heart's desire, she realized she had a very good question to ask.

"But…" she sat up straight, hands on her lap. "why am I not dead yet? Why am I still here?"

An incredulous voice chimed in. "Why would you be dead?"

"Well, I gave my body and powers and _everything_ away. I knew I would be dead. Or at least, seeing how things are, I _thought_ I'd be dead." she spoke softly. "What happens now, then? Am I supposed to wait for something?"

There were two claps of silence during which Uraraka thought the gods were debating a long standing question. What now, she wondered. What could she do now? Would she rot here and eventually wither away as she expected? Would they punish her further by taking over her cruelty-free little timeline? Would they further tarnish the den she had created with her power?

"Ochako died with you that day. Ochako _has_ died with you. But you're still here." that literally made no sense to her. She let them continue. "As you said, it's high time we finished this game. It's only a game when you're having fun. And I'd say it's been enough time playing."

Uraraka batted her eyelashes, perplexed, astounded, confused– what did _that_ mean? Did it mean that… she was _free_? It couldn't be, right? It couldn't be she had won, had she?

The girl jumped up to her feet, mouth agape, a smile threatening to break through her stoic features. "Wait a second… what do you mean? Does that mean…?"

"It means that the game is over, Uraraka. The moment you decided to sacrifice yourself for the good of a new world… you paid the price. You stopped the circle of hatred." a small twinkle echoed in the distance. "You _won_ , Uraraka."

Uraraka looked up, her jaw hitting the floor soundly as she processed their words. It was… over? She was _free_? Had she finally beaten them to their game by just giving up her life? The girl was glad to know she was but… how could one be free in this dark place?

What did _winning_ exactly mean? Had this game lost meaning along the way?

"But… what does that mean for me? Do I get to watch over my loved ones, at least?"

A noise of disbelief crossed her ears. "That's a stupid question."

Her shoulders sank.

"You're going to make up for your loss, and meet them again." she _what_!? "After all, it's your world, isn't it? I think it's time we let this game go and you go enjoy what is yours. Not like you will remember any of this, _us_ , but... it's been a long run and you finally made it here. You have paid with your memories, but you will now live a life of blissful ignorance."

Blissful ignorance? Did that mean… she wouldn't remember absolutely anybody? "So… it will be a fresh start?"

"The freshest of starts. We can't possibly let you go out there overloaded with this information, who knows what you'd do with it." Uraraka gulped. They had reasons to not fully trust her with all this information: such powerful sorcery, the secrets of time travelling, the secrets of the gods… it was information too sensitive for one to bear. "Or, you could also stay as a spirit and watch over them… but not be there."

"A... spirit, huh?"

"That's all we can give to you." said the voice. Its tone was serious but held no animosity or pressure, as if either option was fine. But it wasn't like she needed to think about it. She looked up with a small smile, as if mocking them for thinking she would be torn. "Made up your mind?"

Her eyes were closed. "It's not like I need another lifetime to decide." then, her eyes flashed open with a confident twinkle in her eye that could open her a thousand doors to heaven. "After all I have gone through the pain of not being remembered. If I don't remember them either… what pain would there be? Besides…"

Her smile softened, and she opened her palm. She could still feel his touch, his warmth.

"there's somebody I promised to meet. No matter the lifetimes, the years… it'll still be him. And there's no way I'd not meet him, regardless of lives and centuries."

That was an answer that, for once, felt completely honest. It seemed to please the gods above her greatly, for she heard a soft tone speaking next. "Very well. That's a very good answer."

They had finally come to an agreement, at last.

A surge of white light came from above her, just like the light she had witnessed above her when she opened the doors to the new world. It was a gentle, soothing light, like that of sunshine when washed over by trees and reflected on the rocking waters. She looked up into it, letting her feet leave the ground and letting herself be taken out of there.

A small tear trickled down her cheek, and she felt a small stone fall from her pocket and shatter to the ground.

* * *

Next time Uraraka woke up, it wasn't in the rain. When her lashes fluttered open, her hair was sprayed on the fresh evergreen grass as a warm breeze brushed her cheeks. She blinked her sight into focus and was met with the clear infinite blue sky.

She didn't wake up in the rain. Instead, she woke up in a field of sunflowers.

Uraraka supported herself on her elbows, looking around her. Tall sunflowers dotted the meadow with bright oranges and yellows, the grass pearlescent and bright and springing around her. The grass under her felt cool and fresh, almost wet with dew. Birds chirped around her, close by, flying around.

The sun was beaming on her in a warm, gentle and washing light. The small breeze played with her hair as she sat up, looking around. The sunflowers and grass moved with it too. She also heard leaves rustling in the distance, and turned her eyes to see a big tree hat was providing shade for some sleeping kids.

The place was quiet and peaceful. She looked down at her robes. Dark pink dress with her tattered muddy boots, as well as a loose equally pink dress that had its folds matted down by the slight wetness of the ground. Her gloves were tainted lightly green. Her hair was slightly unkempt and her hat's shape was a bit uneven after sleeping on top of it.

She held her head with her left hand, trying to remember how she got there, a bit dazzled. She blinked to the ground for a few seconds in deep thought. Then, she gasped.

"Drat, the festival!" the girl scrambled around. Of course! she had forgotten! She had stumbled away from the forest and reached this meadow that looked so comfy and inviting to rest on last night. The moon had been bright, the skies clear and her sleep had been peaceful. It had been a long way there, but she had finally made it.

Uraraka gathered her things very quickly. A big bag full of potions, maps and other objects she had acquired during her journey here lay at her feet, untouched, and she put it on her shoulders deftly. She looked around her. A few kids ran around and laughed in joy, chasing each other. Some parents watched from afar.

The girl smiled at the tender picture, then adjusted her hat so it shielded her eyes from the sun. Before leaving, though, Uraraka looked back at the infinite sky above her, and the wind blew a bit harder on her, albeit still soft. A few clouds swirled in circles high above her accompanying the breeze.

For some reason, the peace she was met with made her shoulders relax, and she shed a small smile again, looking back to the path out of the meadow again. She began to walk away, chirping birds and light step accompanying her walk.

The path was soft and curvy as it danced between trees and smaller houses. Small columns of smoke sneaked out of chimneys, the faint smell of bread invaded her nostrils. Everything around her was tainted in warm and pleasing colors. The fences of the houses were painted in white. In the pastures of the farmside, sheep were making their presences known while farmers saluted at her. She greeted them right back.

Some people saw the little girl, clearly a foreigner, and some offered her directions to the festival. Uraraka had been hearing wonders about this Harvest Festival being held in a big village near the coast, where people were inviting and meals were plenty. Of course, she had been inclined to visit and learn about this interesting traditional culture.

A very nice woman approached her and gave her some more directions, telling her which paths to take. Uraraka had been met with a bifurcation under the shade of saplings and maple trees. Dots of sunlight littered her shape as the trees gave her an uneven dash of shade.

The woman also gave her a small piece of bread with some honey on it. "Do be careful with the little boars near the border, little lass! They are grazing the pasture but they can get nervous quite easily!"

The little girl nodded eagerly in understandment and waved her goodbye. She began to walk forward once more, munching on the soft bread enthusiastically. Upon waking up she hadn't realized how hungry she was, after all she couldn't recall how long it had been since she had eaten– or drank water, for that matter.

It was as if she had been born from the sunflowers with no food or water in her stomach. She should have taken some goods with her, clearly.

After some walking and a bit of short talk with some walk-by farmers, the girl made it out of the path and was met with the borders of the village, which were laden with cheer and racket coming from the festival within the entrance.

A gentle zephyr played with her hair and she tucked a strand behind her ear, grinning and her eyes sparkling. The grass blades danced gently with the wind as the tame boars quietly grazed at the sides of the dry path. The sun beat down on the scene, but not too hard. Cradling some food she had been given and some water, Uraraka made her way to the entrance, where two guards awaited her.

But before she got there, a request board right before the entrance greeted her vision. It had a small ceiling and some papers attached to it. Among them, there was a small flyer that was flapping with the wind, which called her attention. Uraraka stopped in her tracks to read the flyer as she ate some more bread quietly.

There was, apparently, a news notice for a mage that was tampering with dangerous dark arts in some faraway country Uraraka couldn't pronounce the name for. The picture of a woman, as well as a man with long dark hair was in the center. The woman wore a sly coy look, but she only looked at the man's shape with narrowed eyes. He was somehow familiar.

However, if she knew him, she couldn't tell, for his face had been tainted with a splatter of mud. All that was left of him was his hair and what appeared to be a scarf.

"Hm." Uraraka let out softly. She wiped some honey off her cheek, her gaze unaltered at the sight of these news. "Hope people watch out for those guys."

And then, as if nothing had happened, she walked away and forgot about it.

She walked to the guards in front of the gates. They had spears in their hands and unlike she expected given their fierce expression, they didn't stop her when she attempted to walk in. If anything, they approached her with no intent to harm her. "Excuse us, little miss. Are you lost?"

Uraraka's eyes widened, but not in surprise. She was very happy when she heard the gentle tone they spoke with. She grinned wide, eyes closed in gee. "Not at all! I'm here to visit the Harvest Festival, I have heard a lot about it!"

The guards turned to look at each other, smiled and nodded. "Of course! Please do come in, everyone from every nation is welcome to visit us!"

The little sorcerer smiled and nodded back thankfully, waving at them as she walked under the gates. The other guard waved at her too. "Do have a good time!"

Uraraka nodded again and waved some more, very moved by the initial warmth she was being welcome with. Then, she turned to look forward and it was her turn to be mesmerized by the view.

There was confetti and banners all over the place. The streets were littered with people who were washed by the sunlight. Stands crowded every wall and the cheerful clamor of passer-bys made her feel embraced and welcome. Flowers were perched on every balcony of every building, with banners and drawings hanging from balcony to another, crossing the street. It was overwhelming– but in a very good and natural way.

She could already smell the vegetables and fresh soup being sold. Excited, Uraraka couldn't wait any longer to dive into the sea of people, and she started jogging into the mass of people.

Nonetheless before she could get very far into the crowd, a thick body collided with hers from the side, making her food and new belongings crash and fall to the ground. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

She heard a loud grunt from whoever it was she crashed with, who had apparently taken a big tumble in their haste. She knelt down to pick up her stuff as people made an effort to not run over them, creating a clearing of their own.

A man at her side hissed. "Can't you fucking watch where you're going?" then, a hiss. Uraraka grimaced at her very first mess-up of the day.

The girl collected her things and got on her feet. She made sure to pack them into her bag this time, neatly tucking them in with care. "Again, I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going– I'm terribly sorry!" she said anxiously. For the first time, she looked to her side and saw a man with blonde hair who was rubbing his side. He had no shirt on, strangely enough.

Uraraka very kindly offered him a hand. The man, whose face was shadowed by his hair, saw the hand and almost barked at her ridiculous offer for help.

He looked up. Uraraka's chocolate eyes met a blistering wine glare. "What the hell? I don't need your fucking help!"

After that, he slowly got up by himself and her hand fell to her side, watching him to make sure he was unharmed. Sensing he was in a foul mood – she had it in her heart to not think somebody was that crass by nature – she tried to apologize again. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to hurt you."

The shirtless man groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. Then, he craned it around to loosen his muscles with a scowl. "Whatever. Just fucking…" when his eyes fluttered to meet hers again, his voice trailed off. Uraraka blinked at him, confused, waiting for him to go on. "Huh?"

He was giving her an odd look of confusion. The girl blinked at him, twice as confused. "Is there anything wrong?"

His eyebrows were knit as he observed her. His eyes scanned her round cherubic face with a surgeon's scrutiny. "Not really." he said, somehow sounding almost angry at her innocent and genuine question. "Do we know each other? You're sorta familiar."

It was Uraraka's time to look confused. Her head was cocked to a side as she tried to remember ever meeting this man. But it was to no avail. She shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm not from this village anyways."

The blond man looked at her some more and Uraraka did as well, trying to read his eyes. He was almost disoriented at her words, but then he shook his head as if to get rid of that suspicion. "Whatever. Must have hit my head when you barreled over me. Who in the world are you, then?"

Uraraka almost wanted to fight his accusation back, but she only sighed and offered him a smile. "My name's Uraraka, Uraraka Ochako, and I'm a sorcerer." she beamed at him with an upbeat voice. "I came to visit the Harvest Festival. Do you live here?"

He was in silence for a few seconds, probably trying to analyze her name in search of coincidences in his memory, but the name didn't stir any memories or feelings. It must have been his imagination, he concluded. Then, he gritted his teeth at her inquiry. "Do I fucking look like I'm here to visit?"

"I don't know, but you have no shirt…" she pointed at his bare chest. No reaction came from him. "Is that a custom here?"

He jammed his fists on his hips and scowled at her for the upteenth time. She was beginning to think this guy had some anger issues. "Of course fucking not! It's just a hassle to wear one!" he turned around then, scratching his cheekbone. That girl was a damn hassle already.

Then, he began to walk away, his hands jammed in his pockets. He could feel her burning stare right on his neck and it was pissing him the fuck off. He craned his head to look at her at which he swore she squeaked. "What the fuck is that look for, roundface?"

Uraraka blinked a few times and squeezed her arms around a few of the goods she still had on her arms. First stop: she would be buying a new bag. As he waited for her response, Uraraka smiled at him again, cheeks red as if happy and delighted by him. "Nothing, you're just a funny guy!"

His eyes widened a notch and Uraraka giggled to herself. Before he could spat at her to get lost, Uraraka waved at him sweetly and started walking in the opposite direction without a glance in his direction.

Bakugou let out a small 'tch', frowning and walking the other way. He had some bastards he called peers to find in that damn crowd.

But it wouldn't be the last time they saw each other. They had made a promise, after all.

And a promise was a promise.

 **FIN**

 **[A/N]:** I hope you enjoyed this story, and please do let me know in the comments! I love you so very much guys, thank you so much for going through this adventure with me. Shall your life be prosperous and shall our paths cross again!

/rolls away like I always do

Much love,

Meep 3


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